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■GEORGE* BURGESS -MAGRATH

LIBRARY

QF-LEGAL-MEDICINE

FOUNDED IN - HIS - HONOR

1933

^Harvard Medical Library
in the Francis A. Countway
Library of Medicine -Boston

THE

DANGER

OF

prtmature 9nttrmntt

Plimimerand Brewis, Printers,
Lovc-Lao«7 Eastcheap.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2011 with funding from

Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School

http://www.archive.org/details/dangerofprematurOOtayl

a. dhte&bi /■';''(' °M*> J&r 6&&

;

>

SS

DANGER

OF

Premature Interment,

PROVED FROM MANY

REMARKABLE INSTANCES

Of People who have recovered after being laid out for dead,

and of others entombed alive, for want of being

properly examined prior to Interment.

Also a Description of

The Manner the Ancient Egyptians, and other N4tions,
Preserved and venerated their Dead,

And a curious Account of their

SEPULCHRAL EVER BURNING LAMPS

And

i^lausol cuius.

Likewise the pernicious iffects of burying in the body of

Churches, and confi.ied Chnrt-h Yards pointed out,

whereby many valuable lives have been lost

to the Public, and their Friends.

SELECTED FROM HISTORICAL RECORDS.
BY

JOSEPH TAYLOR.

" To revive nailed up in a Coffin! A return of Life in Darkness
Distraction, and Despair! The Brain can scarce sustain the
reflection, in our cootest moments."

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR W. SIMPK1N AND R. MARSHALL,

Stationers Court, Lmdgate-Street.

181 a

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHDOL
LIBRARY DF LEGAL- MEDICINE
&fe#4 ., Ca.tr. 32,1, I *!(,.&■

INTRODUCTION.

AMONGST the many dreadful calamities
incident to human nature, none surely is more
horrid, nor can the thought be more appalling,
than even in idea to be buried alive; — the
very soul sickens at the thought. Yet terribly
frightful as the imagination paints such a dire
event, these things have been. Historical
record clearly demonstrates the melancholy
truth, and many a valuable member of
society, has, I am fully persuaded, times past,

6 INTRODUCTION

been prematurely consigned to the grave
before the vital spark has been extinct To
prevent, if possible, such deplorable events
from ever again happening, is my principal
motive in forming the present volume. The
substance of a motto, I have somewhere seen,
several years since, on a silver medal, whereon
is prettily displayed the figure of a boy
blowing with his mouth at a piece of lighted
charcoal nearly extinguished, in hopes of again
re-invigorating the flame, has ever since been
indelibly impressed on my mind, " Who
knows," says the motto, " but one spark,
may yet remain alive." And I would re-
commend a similar impression to be deeply-
fixed on the minds of every person, as a
standing criterion in all doubtful cases be-
tween life and death. It is a duty incumbent
on ourselves, our friends and relatives, and the
community at large, to be thus particular in

INTRODUCTION. 7

such a momentous affair. Who amongst
us, give me leave to ask, that has the least
pretensions to common humanity, would hesi-
tate for a single moment to perform so gener-
ous, though painful a duty, as that of carefully
attending to the sad expiring moments of a
departing friend ? The duty must be reci-
procal to every benevolent being, as sooner
or later, the dreadful trial must be our own.
From a sad mistaken humanity, surrounding
friends are sometimes apt to persuade the
nearest relatives that nothing more can be
done for the dying person, and therefore
prevent them from performing those kind
offices of closing the eyes, and other marks
of attention, which can only be expected
from those who are deeply interested. Surely
such a bounden duty as this, ought not to be
left (as is too often the case) to some wretched
mercenary nurse, or greedy hireling? forbid
it humanity ! I would recommend it to all

5 INTRODUCTION.

surviving relatives, and others, who are in-
terested, and have been attending with the
kindest assiduity on the sick, not to desert
their post, the moment the nurse has reported
the death of her patient, but in this trying
hour, if grief has not too much overpowered
them, to exert every necessary recollection,
to calm their feelings as much as human
nature will permit, and if possible, not be
persuaded to quit the room too hastily, (unless
contagion is apprehended) nor suffer the poor
departed friend to be stripped and pulled
about, until indubitable signs clearly demon-
strate life is no more. Many of the stories
in this volume, well attested by regular bred
professional gentlemen, of the highest respecta-
bility, expatiates largely on this humane,
and interesting subject, and I would fain
flatter myself, such necessary advice as they
impart on so very important a subject, will

INTRODUCTION. 9

cause in future in every family, a more than
usual care and examination of their friends
in the hour of death, and prior to interment.
Were we but to bear in our minds the follow-
ing animated lines from a celebrated poet,
our attention to dying friends would be
unremitting.

" Spirits fly swift (our friend's) perhaps is

gone
A thousand leagues beyond the sun.
Or twice ten thousand more twice told,
Ere the forsaken clay is cold.

" And yet, who knows ; the friends we

lov'd, ;

They may not be so far remov'd ;
Only the veil of flesh between,
May oft glide by us, tho' unseen.

10 INTRODUCTION.

" While we (their loss lamenting) say,
They're out of hearing, far away ;
Guardians to us, perhaps they're near
Conceal'd in vehicles of air."

The danger which has arisen from burying
in churches, and confined church yards, is so
clearly proved by several remarkable instances
in the present volume, that I shall say little
more on the subject, but refer my readers to
those important truths for information. Where
it is absolutely necessary, a great number of
dead bodies must be deposited in one small
piece of ground, I would recommend a plan
to be observed, something similar to the follow-
ing, which I am of opinion, would prevent
great confusion and danger, when a new grave
is about to be opened. Let burying grounds
in future, be divided into regular sections, of
sufficient length and breadth, to admit of the
largest human body, male or female, Over

INTRODUCTION. 11

each of these divisions, regularly and dis-
tinctly mark in numerals from 1 to 100, more
or less, according to the size of the ground.
Then let the parish clerk, sexton, or some
other proper person, keep an alphabetical
ruled form, whereon must be regularly entered
the day of the month, and year the person died
in, christian and sir name of the deceased, parish
where they resided, and a space annexed for the
number and side of the wall, under which the
defunct was buried, in like manner.

REGISTER OF FUNERALS.

Name of the | Time f Death J Of what Parish I I Under what

Deceased. | t belonging. I I wall buried.

Ad.tho.i, I
Richard. 5
Barckley, >

Thomas.

1816.
January 1.

February 18.

Utah, ) I

Shoredi
St. Vedast,
Foster Lane.

South wall.
North wall.

I know not whether any similar plan to the
above has ever yet been adopted, if not, I
think great waste of ground may be prevented,
and impure vapours greatly kept under

12 INTRODUCTION.

By duly attending to this register of death,
(if I may be allowed the term) a regular
gradation will constantly be attended to : this,
will in a great measure prevent danger to the
grave-digger, and the surrounding inhabitants.
For instance, suppose a body to be laid in the
grave under No. 1, a second under No. % a
third under No. 3, and so on in like manner,
until the whole number of spaces in the ceme-
tery is filled up. By the time the last num-
bered grave is opened, if the burying ground
is large, the first body buried under No. 1,
will very probably be reduced to ashes, so
that there will then be room to begin again
in the same progressive manner: and if the
body should not be quite dissolved (which can
easily be ascertained by a reference to the
above register) a few layers of earth and straw
must be allowed as a barrier between the first
and last corpse interred in the same grave.
A little attention to some such method as

INTRODUCTION. 13

this, would I am inclined to think, tend greatly
to prevent danger in all confined church yardsr
preserve very frequently the life of the grave-
digger, and render the air more pure and
wholesome to the surrounding inhabitants of
such doleful places. Another improvement
may likewise be introduced, which would
greatly tend to disperse all noxious effluvia,
and make these dormitories less gloomy and
unwholesome, I mean where the ground is
sufficiently capacious, to plant it with certain
shrubs and flowers. Many of the Eastern
Nations are very particular in this respect,
and set us a rare example for improvement.
In the Great Mogul's dominions, no places
afford more delight to travellers, than their
burying grounds. Their tombs are either built
round, square, or with six or eight corners,
and covered over archwise, and the remaining
part of the ground is planted with fruit trees,
and flowers, just as if they were laying out

14 INTRODUCTION.

and planting an elysium. 'How preferable
must places of this description be to our con-
fined, and too often dirty habitations for the
dead.

Respecting the sepulchral Lamps of the
Ancients, however some people may be inclined
to ridicule and discredit such reports, the
descriptions are most certainly too curious and
interesting to be omitted in a work of this
kind. I have therefore selected from the most
respectable documents, those records I con-
ceived applicable to my work and deserving
of notice. They are such descriptions, as I
think ought to be paid much attention to,
for in this age of invention, when chemistry
is brought to great perfection, and many mo-
dern arts are on investigation, only found to
be improvements of the Ancients, as is the
case with the Gas-lights which shine so reful-
gent through our streets, it may probably by

INTRODUCTION. 15

the philosophic experimentalist, at some future
period be discovered by what art the Ancients
constructed those perpetual lights which have
so often been found in their sepulchres. Surely
nothing can be too great for imitation. If the
Mausoleums of our monarchs, and the tombs
of the great could be illuminated, with a
durable pale, silvery, phosphoric light, (which
I do not conceive at all impracticable) it
would render the mansions of the dead less
terrific, be awfully grand and sublime, and
transmit to posterity the improvements of the
age. The idea of a continual light burning
in our tombs after our decease, would to many,
I am well convinced be so comfortable an
anticipation, that the fear of death would
be less dreadful, than when we expect, after the
dread catastrophe, to remain for years in
darkness.

That these, my humble efforts for the

16 INTRODUCTION.

public good, or that any of the subsequent
stories may be instrumental in preserving the
life of but one fellow-creature, or that the
hints I have treated so superficially, may
induce some abler pen to enlarge on a subject
so very important to all mankind, then will
my utmost ambition be fully gratified.

J. TAYLOR.

Newingtori)
Nov. 18th9 1815.

TillS

DANGER

OF

4Prem*turc Hutevmrnt,

«k*'VWVV**'*.'W*<%

ARISTOTLE asserted, that it was more
just to assist the dead than the living, Plato5
in his Republic, does not forget, amongst other
parts of justice, that which concerns the dead,
Cicero establishes three kinds of justice ; the
first respects the Gods, the second the manes, or
dead, and the third men. These principle?
seem to be drawn from nature, and they appear
at least, to be necessary for the support of society^
since at all times civilized nations have taken
care to bury their dead, and to pay their last
respects to them.

g THE DANGER OF

We find in history, several traces of the
respect which the Indians, the Egyptians, and
the Syrians entertained for the dead. The
Syrians embalmed their bodies with myrrh,
aloes, honey, salt, wax, bitumen, and resinous
gums ; they dried them also with the smoke of
the fir and the pine tree. The Egyptians
preserved theirs with the resin of the cedar,
with aromatic spices, and with salt. These
people often kept such mummies, or at least their
effigies, in then* houses, and at grand entertain-
ments they were introduced, that by reciting
the great actions of their ancestors, they might
be better excited to virtue. — How different is
this respect for the dead, from that practised at
present ?

The Greeks, at first, had probably not the
same veneration for the dead as the Egyptians,
Empedocles, therefore, in the eighty fourth
Olympiad, restored to life Ponthia, a woman of
Agrigentum, who was about to be interred.
But this people, in proportion as they grew
civilized, becoming more enlightened, perceived
the necessity of establishing laws for the protec-
tion of the dead

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 3

At Athens, the law required that no person
should be interred before the third day; and
in the greater part of the cities of Greece, a
funeral did not take place till the sixth or seventh.
When a man appeared to have breathed his
last, his body was generally washed by his
nearest relations with warm water mixed with
wine. They afterwards anointed it with oilj
and covered it with a dress, commonly made of
fine linen, according to the custom of the Egyp?
tians. This dress was white at Messina, Athens^
and in the greater part of the cities of Greece^
where the dead body was crowned with flowers.
At Sparta it was of a purple colour, and the body
was surrounded with olive leaves, The body
was afterwards laid upon a couch in the entry
of the house, where it remained till the time of
the funeral. At the magnificent obsequies which
Alexander honoured Ephestion, the body wa$
not burned till the tenth day.

The Romans in the infancy of their empire,
paid as little attention to their dead as the Greeks
had done, Acilius Aviola having fallen into a
lethargic fit3 was supposed to be dead ; he was

B %

4 THE DANGER- OF

therefore carried to the funeral pile; the fire
was lighted up ; and though he cried out that
he was still alive, he perished for want of
speedy assistance. The Praetor Lamiae met
with the same fate. Tubero, who had been
Praetor was also saved from the funeral pile.
Asclepiades a physician, who lived in the time
of Pompey the Great, about one hundred and
twenty years before the Christian eera, returning
irom his country house, observed near the walls
of Rome, a grand convoy and a crowd of people,
who were in mourning assisting at a funeral, and
shewing every exterior sign of the deepest grief.
Having asked what was the occasion of this
concourse, no one made any reply. He there-
fore approached the pretended dead body, and
imagining that he perceived signs of life in it, he
ordered the by-standers to take away the flam-
beaux, to extinguish the fire, and to pull down
the funeral pile. A kind of murmur on this
arose throughout the whole company. Some
said that they ought to believe the physician,
while others turned both him and his profession
into ridicule. The relations however yielded at
length to the remonstrances of Asclepiades;

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 5

they consented to defer the obsequies for a little,
and the consequence was the restoration of the
pretended dead person to life. It appears that
these examples* and several others of the like
nature, induced the Romans to delay funerals
longer, and to enact laws to prevent precipitate
interments.

At Rome, after allowing a sufficient time for
mourning, the nearest relation generally closed
the eyes of the deceased, and the body was
bathed with warm water, either to render it
fitter for being anointed^with oil, or to reanimate
the principle of life, which might remain sus-
pended, without manifesting itself. Proofs were
afterwards made, to discover whether the per-
son was really dead, which were often repeated
during the time that the body remained ex-*
posed; for there were persons appointed to
visit the dead, and to prove their situation. On
the second day, after the body had been washed
a second time, it was anointed with oil and
balm. Luxury encreased to such a pitch in the
choice of foreign perfumes for this purpose,
that under the consulship of Licinius Crassus,
b a

THE DANGER OF

and Julius Caesar, the senate forbad any per-
fumes to be used, except such as were the pro-
duction of Italy. On the third day the body
was clothed according to its dignity and condi-
tion. The robe called the prcetexta was put
upon magistrates, and a purple robe upon
consuls ; for conquerors who had merited trU
mnphai honours, this robe was of gold tissue.
For other Romans it was white, and black for
the lower classes of the people. These dresses
were often prepared at a distance, by the
mothers and wives of persons still in life,
On the fourth day the body was placed
on a couch, and exposed in the vestibule of
the house, with the visage turned towards the
entrance, and the feet near the door ; in this
situation it remained till the end of the week,
Near the couch were lighted wax tapers, a small
box in which perfumes were burnt, and a vessel
full of water, for purification, with which those
who approached the body besprinkled them-
selves. An old man, belonging to those who
furnished every thing necessary for funerals,
sat near the deceased, with some domestics
clothed in black, On the eighth day the funeral

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 7

riles were performed ; but to prevent the body
from corrupting before that time, salt, wax, the
resinous gum of the cedar, myrrh, honey, balm,
gypsum, lime, asphaltes, or bitumen of Judea,
and several other substances, were employed.
The body was carried to the pile with the face
uncovered, unless wounds, or the nature of the
disease had rendered it loathsome and disgust-
ing. In such a case, a mask was used made
of a kind of plaister, which has given rise to
the expression of funera lavasta, used in some
of the ancient authors. This was the last
method of concealment which Nero made use
of, after having caused Germanicus to be
poisoned : for the effect of the poison had be-
come very sensible by livid spots and the
blackness of the body, but a shower of rain
happening to fall, it washed the plaister entirely
away, and thus the horrid crime of fratricide
was discovered.

The Turks have, at all times, been accus-
tomed to wash the bodies of their dead before
interment: and as their ablutions are com-
plete, and as no part of the body escapes the
b 4

8 THE DAXGER OF

attention of thosewho assist at such melancholy
ceremonies, they can easily perceive whether
one be really dead or alive, by examining)
among other methods of proof, whether the
sphincter ams has lost its power of contraction,
If this muscle remains still contracted, they
warm the body, and endeavour to recal it to
life; otherwise, after having washed it with
water and soap, they wipe it with linen cloths,
wash it again with rose water, and aromatic
substances, cover it with a rich dress, put upon
its head a cap ornamented with flowers, and
extend it upon a carpet, placed in the vestibule,
or hall, at the entrance of the house.

The Jews, after having washed the body,
and anointed it with aromatic substances of a
more or less agreeable odour, according to the
rank and riches of the deceased, bind it round
afterwards with bandages of linen, and cover
the head with a handkerchief.

In the primitive church the dead were washed
and then anointed ; the body was wrapped up
in linen, or clothed in a dress of more or less

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 9

value, according to circumstances, and it was
not interred till after being exposed, and kept
some days in the house. The custom of cloth-
ing the dead is preserved in France only for
princes and ecclesiastics.

In other countries, more or less care is taken
to prevent sudden interments. At Geneva,
there are people appointed to inspect all dead
bodies. Their duty consists in examining
whether the person be really dead, and whether
they died naturally, or by violence. In the
North, as well as at Genoa, it is usual not to
bury the dead till three days have expired. In
Holland people cany their precautions much
farther, and delay the funerals longer. In
Spain, the dead are generally clothed in the
dresses of the religious. And in Germany they
are dressed in clothes more or less splendid,
with their faces uncovered, and are generally
laid in that apartment, which is nearest the
door.

In England, the poorest people keep their
dead four or five days, and sometimes longer,

b 5

10 THE DANGER OF

and the nearest relations are invited to see
them exposed. If they happen to be buried
sooner, this precipitation excites suspicions
among the neighbours, who never fail to
address themselves to the magistrates, and
to take the body from the grave, that they
may examine whether it bears any traces of
violence.

It is not only in Europe that precautions are
taken against precipitate burials. In Asia,
when an inhabitant of the kingdom of Boutain
dies, the body is kept in the house three days all
of which are spent in singing and prayers.

If we instead of following the example of
those people, have forgotten that respect which
the ancients entertained for the dead, it is owing
to the prejudices of our education imbibed in
infancy. In that early age nurses and ignorant
servants instil into children those absurdities
which they themselves have adopted, and such
prejudices are the most difficult to be overcome.
Scarcely has one ceased to live, when he becomes
an obiect of horror,

MiEMATIttiE INTERMENT. 11

The body is abandoned to a set of mercenary
people, who begin by dragging it from a warm
bed to place it on some cold straw. Soon after
devotion, or the desire of gain, draws together
the undertakers, who first cover the head and
face with a kind of cap, in the shape of a bag.
Sometimes they put cotton into the mouth, the
ears, and even into the fundament, if the last
precaution has not been taken before their
arrival. This cotton is placed there to prevent
the body from staining the linen in which it is
wrapped up> They then bind the breast and
aims round with a bandage, and make another
pass round the lower part of the belly ; the
latter comprehends the arms from the elbows,
and serves also to enclose the feet : after this the
undertakers wrap up the whole body in a sheet,
which they fix at both the extremities, and either
sew or fasten it with pins, observing always to
confine the body as closely as they can. It is
thus that a man is prepared for his coffin ; but
it would be difficult to pursue a more pernicious
method, even if one had an intention of accele-
rating death, or of rendering it impossible for a
person to return to life.

B 6

12 THE DANGER OF

The cold to which a dying man is exposed,
that he may not dirty himself, is attended with
the greatest danger, for while the sphincter
remains in contraction, there exists within us
some remains of irritability, and consequently
of life. The discharge of the intestinal matter,
is the Ultimum vitce. Thus whilst a child has
not yet voided the mecronium, the man midwife,
notwithstanding the most dismal symptoms, still
hopes to recal it to life. On the contrary, the
appearance of this excrement, is considered by
him as a certain sign of death. The stopping
of the anus, is attended with no less inconveni-
ence, as it prevents the action of the parts in
which life still subsists ; for the Abbe Spalanmni
has proved, that digestion continues for sometime
after a persons death. If these parts could
afterwards recover force, and irritability enough
to reanimate the other organs, the closing the
anus would necessarily become an obstacle to
their salutary action. The different situations
given to a body, is sufficient when it has arrived
at the last degree of weakness, to cause or to
accelerate death. Of this, however, people are
not sufficiently aware, when they take away the

PREMATURE INTERMENT, 13

pillow from a dying person, which is after done,
and place the body upon a straw mattrass.
Besides, during life, there exhales continually
from the cavities of the head, from the breast,
and from the belly, a vapour, which is always
absorbed by the vessels ; but if this vapour be
condensed by the cold, it thickens into drops as
may be seen by breathing upon a glass, and then
an expansion takes place, which interrupts the
action of the vessels, and opposes the return of
life. Humanity protests against such a detest-
able mode of procedure; it tells us that we
ought to allow sick people to expire in a good
warm bed, and to remove all those causes which
may shorten the period of their lives.

People are buried sometimes five or six hours
after their apparent death, yet how many exam-
ples have we seen of the principle of life existing
a long time after the motion of the heart and
arteries has ceased. We knew that the heart
generally weakens by degrees, that its power
ends by not being any longer in a condition to
force the blood into the arteries, that this blood
flows towards the large vesse and that the

14 THE DAN&Elt OF

circulation ceases ; but if the tonic motion still
subsists, the circulation may be re-established,
and it is above all in the exterior part of the
body, that it may be put in play to act upon
the blood. Being therefore excited by friction?
upon the skin, and by insufflation into the
intestines, according to the practice of the
Acadians, it has often brought to life people
taken from the water, who to all appearance
were dead. But when the body is buried, the
exterior parts are cold, and in a state of com-
pression; besides it is not sufficient that this
tonic motion should be excited : one must also
remove those obstacles which prevent it from
spreading, and giving play to the organs of the
pulse, and of respiration; but the pressure
made upon the breast and upon the belly, while
the mouth is shut, and sometimes stuffed with
cotton, becomes an object almost insurmount-
able. The pressure upon the belly is attended
with this great disadvantage, that it opposes the
sinking of the diaphragm, thus preventing respi-
ration, and besides compressing the intestines,
which are generally the last part in which the
vital principle subsists. It results then from

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 16

this precipitate custom, either that the remains
of life are sometimes extinguished, or that
they are oppressed for a time, so that no one
never revives, but amidst the horrors of the
grave.

The difference between the end of a weak
life, and the commencement of death, is so
small, and the uncertainty of the signs of the
latter is so well established, both by ancient and
modern authors, who have turned their attention
to that important object, that we can scarcely
suppose undertakers capable of distinguishing
an apparent from a real death. Animals which
sleep during winter, shew no signs of life; in
this case, circulation is only suspended; but
were it annihilated, the vital spark does not so
easily lose its action, as the other fluids of the
body: and the principle of life, which long
survives the appearance of death, may re-ani-
mate a body, in which the action of all the
organs seem to be at an end. But how difficult
is it to determine, whether this principle may
not be revived ? It has been found impossible
to recal to life some animals suffocated by

16 THE DANGEE OF

mephitic vapours, though they appeared less
affected than others who have revived, Cold-
ness, heaviness of the body, a leaden livid colour,
with a yellowness in the visage, are all very
uncertain signs. Mr. Zimmerman observed
them all upon the body of a criminal, who
fainted through the dread of that punishment
which he had merited. He was shaken, dragged
about, and turned in the same manner as dead
bodies without the least signs of resistance, and
yet at the end of twenty four hours, he was
recalled to life by means of volatile alkali.

It is certain that life, when to all appearance
lost, may often, by due care, be restored.
Accidents frequently prove fatal, merely be-
cause proper means are not used to counteract
their effects. No person ought to be looked
upon as killed by any accident, unless where
the structure of the heart, brain, or some organ
necessary to life, is evidently destroyed. The
action of these organs may be so far impaired,
as even to be for some time imperceptible, when
life is by no means gone. In this case, how-
ever, if the fluids be suffered to grow cold, it

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 17

will be impossible to put them again in motion,
even though the solids should recover their
power of acting. Thus, when the motion of
the lungs has been stopped by unwholesome
vapour, the action of the heart by a stroke on
the breast, or the functions of the brain by a
blow on the head, if the person be suffered to
grow cold, he will in all probability continue
so; but, if the body be kept warm, as soon
as the injured part has recoverd its power of
acting, the fluids will again begin to move, and
all the vital functions will be restored.

It is a horrid custom, immediately to con
sign over to death every person who has the
misfortune, by a fall, a blow, or the like, to be
deprived of the appearance of life. The un-
happy person, instead of being carried into a
warm house, and laid by the fire, or put to a
warm bed, is generally hurried away to church,
or a barn, or some other cold damp house,
where, after a fruitless attempt has been made
to bleed him, perhaps by one who knew nothing
of the matter, he is given over for dead, and no
further notice taken of him. This conduct
seems to be the result of ignorance, supported

18 tliE DANGEK OF, &6.

by ah ancient superstitious notion, which forbids
the body of any person killed by accident to be
laid in an house that is inhabited* What the
ground of this superstition may be, we shall
not pretend to inquire ; but surely the conduct
founded upon it, is contrary to all the prin-
ciples of reason, humanity, and common sense,

When a person seems to be suddenly de*
prived of life, our first business is to inquire
into the cause* We ought carefully to observe
whether any substance be lodged in the wind-
pipe or gullet ; and, if that is the case, attempts
must be made to remove it. When unwhole-
some an is the cause, the patient ought imme-
diately to be removed out of it. If the circu-
lation be suddenly stopped, from any cause
whatever, except mere weakness, the patient
should be bled. If the blood does not flow, he
may be immersed in warm water, or rubbed
with warm cloths,' &c. to promote the circula-
tion. When the cause cannot be suddenly
removed, our great aim should be to keep up
the vital warmth by rubbing the patient with
hot cloths, or salt, and covering his body with
warm sand, ashes, or the like.

REMARKABLE

INSTANCES

ov

People who have been nearly buried alive , but
recovered by resuscitaiive application*

» V^tWWVWVl'S

L

A Director of the coach office at Dijon,,
named Colinet, was supposed to be dead, and
the news of this event was spread throughout
the whole city. One of his friends, who was
desirous of seeing him at the moment when he
was about to be buried, having looked at him
for a considerable time, thought he perceived
some remains of sensibility in the muscles of the
face. He therefore made an attempt to bring
him to life by spirituous liquors, in which he
succeeded ; and this director enjoyed afterwards,
for a long time, that life which he owed to his

ZO EEMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

friend. This remarkable circumstance was
much like those of Empedocles and Asclepiades*
These instances would perhaps be more fre-
quent, were men of skill and abilities called in
cases of sudden death, in which people of
ordinary knowledge are often deceived by fals®
appearances.

A man may 'fall into a syncope, and may
remain in that condition three, or even eight
days. People in this situation have been known
to come to life when deposited among the dead,

II.

A boy belonging to the Hospital at Cassel,
appeared to have breathed his last : he was
carried into the hall where the dead were
exposed, and was wrapped up in a piece of
canvas. Some time after, recovering from his
lethargy, he recollected the place in which he
had been deposited, and crawling towards the
door, knocked against it with his foot Tliis

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 21

noise was luckily heard by the centinel, who
soon perceiving the motion of the canvas, called
for assistance. The youth was immediately
conveyed to a warm bed, and soon perfectly
recovered. Had his body been confined by
close bandages, or ligatures, he would not have
been able, in all probability, to make himself
be heard: his unavailing efforts would have
made him again fall into a syncope, and he.
would have been thus buried alive.

*1,VtV»VV».V«.%>1;

III.

We must not be astonished, that the ser-
vants of an hospital should take a syncope for a
real death, since even the most enlightened
people have fallen into errors of the same kind.
Dr. John Schmid relates, that a young girl,
seven years of age, after being afflicted for some
weeks with a violent cough, was all of a sudden
freed from this troublesome malady, and ap-
peared to be in perfect health. But some days
after, while playing with her companions* this

£& REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

child fell down in an instant, as if struck by
lightning. A death-like paleness was diffused
over her face and arms ; she had no apparent
pulse ; her temples were sunk, and she shewed
no signs of sensation when shaken or pinched.
A physician, who was called, and who believed
her to be dead, in compliance with the repeated
and pressing request of her parents, attempted,
though without any hopes, to recal her to life,
and at length, after several vain efforts, he
made the soles of her feet be smartly rubbed
with a brush, dipped in strong pickle. At the
end of three quarters of an hour, she was
observed to sigh ; she was then made to swallow
some spirituous liquor, and she was soon after
restored to life, much to the joy of her discon»
golate parents.

<*'»*/VW».%'V».»%»'v

IV.

* A certain man having undertaken a jour-
ney, in order to see his bx'other, on his arrival
at his house, found him dead. This news

FREMATURE INTERMENT. 23

affected him so much, that it brought on a most
dreadful syncope, and he himself was supposed
to be in the like situation. After the usual
means had been employed to recal him to life,
it was agreed that his body should be dissected,
to discover the cause of so sudden a death ; but
the supposed dead person over -hearing this pro*,
posal, opened his eyes, started up, and imme-
daitely betook himself to liis heels,

Cardinal Espinola, prime minister to
Philip II. was not so fortunate, for we read
in the memoirs of Amelot de la Houssai, that
he put his hand to the knife with which he was
opened, in order to be embalmed. In shorty
almost every one knows, that Vesalius, the
father of anatomy, having been sent for to
open a woman, subject to hysterics, who was
supposed to be dead, he perceived, on making
the first incision, by her motions, and cries,
that she was still alive ; that this circumstance

24 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

rendered him so odious, that he was obliged ta
fly, and that he was so much affected by it, that
fee died soon after.

VL

On this occasion, we cannot forbear to add an
event more recent, but no less melancholy.
The Abbe Prevost, so well known by his
writings, and the singularities of his life, was
seized with a fit of the apoplexy, in the forest of
Chantilly, on the 23rd of October, 1763. His
body was carried to the nearest village, and the
officers of justice were proceeding to open it,
when a cry which he sent forth affrightened all
the assistants, and convinced the surgeon that
the Abbe was not dead; but it was too late to
save him, as he had already received the mortal
wound.

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 25

VII.

In the civil wars of France, on account of
religious disputes, when the Catholics besieged
Bouen, in 1562, Francis Civile, one of the*
most intrepid gentlemen of the Calvinist party,
received a wound which made him fall senseless
from the rampart into the town. Some soldiers,
who supposed him dead, stripped and buried
him, with the usual negligence on those occa-
sions. A trusty and affectionate person he had
retained in his service, desirous of procuring for
his master a more honourable burial, went with
design to find his body. His search being
fruitless amongst several dead bodies which were
quite disfigured, he covered them again with
earth, but so as that the hand of one of them
remained uncovered. As he was returning, he
looked behind him, and perceived that hand
above the ground, and the apprehension he was
under, that such an object might excite the
dogs to unearth the dead body for devouring it,
induced him to come back in order to cover it.
The moment he was going to exercise this pious
c

26 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

office, a gleam of light from the moon, just
coming from under a cloud, made him perceive
a diamond ring Civile wore on his finger.
Without loss of time he takes up his master,
who had still breath in him, and carries him to
the hospital for the wounded, but the surgeon,
who had been quite fatigued with labour, and
who considered him as on the point of death,
would take no trouble about dressing his wounds.
The servant then found himself obliged to con-
vey him to his own inn, where he languished
four days without any help. At the end of
this time two physicians were found who had
the humanity to visit him. They cleansed
his wounds, and by their care and attention
put him in a way to live, and at length, to
the astonishment of every one, he finally re-
covered.

But the misfortunes of this hero had not yet
ended. The town having been taken by
assault, the conquerors were so barbarous as
to throw him out of a window. He fortunately
fell on a heap of dung, where, abandoned by
every one, he passed three days, until his

PREMATURE INTERMENT. £7

relation Ducroiset had him carried off privately
in the night, and sent to a house up the country,
where his wounds were dressed as opportunity
offered. There, after so many disasters, he
recovered so perfect a state of health, that he
survived forty years after all these accidents.
That particular providence, which had saved
this man from so many perils, also presided
over his birth, His mother dying with child, duiv
ing the absence of her husband, had been buried*
without any one thinking to extract the child,
by the Caesarian operation, when fortunately
the day after she was interred, the husband
arrived, and learnt with surprise the death of
his wife, and the little attention that was paid
to the fruit of her womb. He instantly requir-
ed her grave to be dug up, and having had his
unfortunate wife opened, Civile was extracted
while livine:.

c 2

28 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

VIII.

Sir Hugh Ackland, after being laid out as a
corpse, recovered by a bumper of brandy.

The late Sir Hugh Ackland, of Devonshire,
apparently died of a fever, and was laid out as
dead : the nurse, with two of the footmen, sat
up with the corpse. Lady Ackland, sent them
a bottle of brandy to drink in the night : one of
the servants being an arch rogue, told the other
that his master dearly loved brandy when he
was alive, and, says he, I am resolved he shall
drink one glass, with us now he is dead. The
fellow accordingly poured out a bumper of
brandy, and forced it down his throat : a gug-
gling immediately ensued, and a violent motion
of the neck, and upper part of the breast. The
other footman and the nurse were so terrified,
that they ran down stairs ; and the brandy
genius hastening away with rather too much
speed, tumbled down stairs head-foremost. The
noise of the fall, and his cries, alarmed a young
gentleman that slept in the house that night,

PREMATURE INTERMENT* 29

who got up, and went to the room where the
corpse lay, and, to his great surprise, saw Sir
Hugh sitting upright. He called the servants ;
Sir Hugh was put into a warm bed, and the
physician and apothecary were sent for. These
gentlemen in a few weeks perfectly restored
their patient to health, and he lived several
years after. The above, says the writer, is well
known to the people in Devonshire, as in most
companies Sir Hugh used to tell this strange
circumstance, and talk of his resurrection by his
brandy footman, to whom, when he really died,
he left a handsome annuity.

IX.

Sir Gervase Scroop*

In Edge-hill fight, Sir Gervase Scroop,
fighting valiantly for his king, received twenty-
six wounds, and was left on the ground amongst
the dead: next day, his son Adrian obtained
leave of the king, to find and fetch off his
c 3

SO REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

father's corpse, and his hopes pretended no
higher than a decent interment thereof: such
a search was thought in vain amongst so many
naked bodies with wounds disguised from them-
selves, and where pale death had confounded
all complexions together. However, he having
some general hint of the place, where his father
fell, did light upon his body, which had some
warmth left therein : the heat was with rubbing
within a few moments improved to motion,
that motion within some hours into sense, that
sense within a day into speech : within certain
weeks he arrived to a perfect recovery, living
jnore than ten years after, a monument of God's
mercy and his son's affection. The effect of
this story (says Dr. Fuller) I received from his
own mouth in Lincoln College.

WViV\*\*\V%\»

X.

" We know some," saith Alexander Bene-
dictus, " who have been laid in their graves
half alive ; and some noble persons have been

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 31

disposed in their sepulchres, whose life has lain
hid in the secret repositories of the heart. One
great lady was thus entombed, who was after
found dead indeed ; but sitting, and removed
from her place, as one that had returned to life
amongst the carcases of the dead. She had
pulled off the hair from her- head, and had
torn her breast with her nails, signs too appa-
rent of what had passed; and that she had
long in vain called for help, while alone in the
society of the dead."

*tMWVW*WV*

XI.

Monsieur Mercier, in his Tableau de Paris,
relates the following extraordinary Fact.

About seventeen years ago (i. e. 1765) an
innocent young country girl, of handsome and
engaging person, was hired as a servant by a
man * at Paris, who was unfortunately for her

* Note — Celibacy in men was very common in France
before the Revolution, and it was there no disparagement
c 4

82 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

contaminated with almost^every vice incident
to human nature. This wretch was so struck
with her beauty, that he left no means untried
to seduce her ; but she was innately virtuous,
and resisted all his wicked attempts. Being a
stranger at Paris, and without any friend to
receive her, she dreaded to quit the house of
her persecutor, and with equal reluctance con-
tinued. At length her virtuous resistance so
inflamed this wretched being, that not being
able to gratify his desires in the manner he
wished, he formed the most diabolical plan of
vengeance that ever entered the human mind.
He privately conveyed a quantity of plate,
marked with his name, into the box where the
girl kept her clothes, and then declaring he
had been robbed, sent for an officer of Police,
had her taken into custody, and made his report
to the magistrate of the things that were mis-
sing. The officer on opening her box, and
finding the articles supposed to be stolen, com-
municated the information to the magistrate,
who, being fully persuaded of her guilt, com-

to a girl's character to have lived in the house of a ha*
chelor as servant,

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 38

mitted her to prison. Here she fell on her
knees, and supplicated the monster, but in
vain; her tears were the only proof of her
innocence, in opposition to the apparent fact,
laid to her charge, which appeared to be incon-
trovertible. She was shortly after brought to
trial, where, with the aid of the master's cir-
cumstantial evidence, she was found guilty,
ordered for execution, and in short was hanged.
But mark the secret workings of Providence in
behalf of an innocent victim ! The executioner
was a novice in his profession, and in adjusting
the rope round the neck of this poor creature,
he fastened it so awkwardly, that respiration
was not entirely stopped. After hanging the
usual time, the body was cut down, and sold
to a Surgeon, (formerly in France, the bodies
of criminals after execution, were a part of the
hangman's perquisites, who had liberty to dis-
pose of them as he thought proper) who
ordered it to be removed to his house for dis-
section. In the evening, when about to com-
mence the operation, he thought he discovered
an unusual warmth in several parts of the body.
On holding a glass close to her mouth, he per-
c 5

m REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

ceived a dulness and humidity on its surface*
which led him to conclude, that the action of
the lungs had not entirely ceased. The almost
fatal knife immediately fell from his hand, and
with great humanity he had the body put in a
warm bed, where, after applying the usual
remedies in cases of suspended animation, he
had the satisfaction to find his efforts effectual,
in restoring to life this unfortunate innocent.
The Surgeon then sent for a Priest, to whom
lie was known, and in whose prudence and
secrecy he could confide, and after telling him
the particulars of this strange affair, requested
him to be witness of his conduct, and to further
aid him with his advice. When this poor
unfortunate creature opened her eyes, and
beheld the priest standing near her, she be-
lieved herself in the regions of the blest, clasp-
ing her trembling hands together, she exclaim-
ed,— " Eternal and heavenly Father, you know
my innocence ! — Have mercy on me V — Noth-
ing could be more moving and expressive than
the supplications of this much injured girl, who
being roused from a death-like state, fancied
herself in the presence of the Supreme Judge,

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 35

and, in fact, could hardly be prevailed upon to
desist from her invocations to the priest as to
the Almighty : and so strongly was the idea of
her late dreadful sufferings impressed upon her,
that it was with much difficulty she could be
persuaded she was again an inhabitant of the
earth.

•wvw<k*/w» w-% <V

XII.

Remarkable Rescuscitation in Sweden.

On the 23rd of March, 1756, a peasant,
about sixty years of age, of the province of
Scheeren, in Sweden, having been made very
drunk with brandy, was, in his way home,
thrown down by the violence of the wind : and
as he was too far gone in liquor to recover his
legs again, he soon fell asleep where he lay.
Not being discovered till the next morning, he
was found then frozen stiff, and taken up for
dead. He was put into a shell in order for
interment, when fortunately Mr. Nauder, a
c 6

36 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

physician of the province of Gothland, being
on a journey, arrived on the spot where the
accident happened. He examined the body;
the face, and all the extremities, were cold as
ice, and the cheeks of an extraordinary red
colour. The joints were immoveable, the eyes
were fixed. Not the least motion of the heart
or pulse, or the smallest signs of respiration
were left; and the feet were so completely
frozen, that the toes were all become black,
except the great toe on the right foot. After
some time contemplating on these unfavourable
circumstances, Mr. Nauder imagined he could
perceive some warmth at the pit of the stomach,
which encouraged him to hope the poor object
might be recovered ; but there being no Apo-
thecary, or medicines of any kind to be had in
the place, he was induced to try the following
methods. He begun, by ordering the arms,
legs* and loins of the patient, to be rubbed with
coarse woollen cloths. He put on the stomach
and belly warm cloths of the same kind, which
were frequently changed, increasing their warmth
by degrees. At the same time, the patient was
laid on a mattrass on the floor ; no care being as

PEEMATURE INTERMENT. 37

yet taken about his feet, which the physician
supposed it was impossible to save. On reflect-
ing afterwards, however, on the custom of
putting frozen meat into cold water, in order to
thaw it, without prejudice, he had a mind to
try the same expedient. But, as the joints
were as yet inflexible, he could not find means
to immerse the feet in water, so was obliged to
content himself with ordering wet linen cloths,
frequently changed, to be wrapped round them.

By these means, the region of the heart
began to recover warmth, but not till after four
hours constant rubbing, there was the least
appearance of respiration. This was about two
o'clock in the afternoon. No pulse, however,
was to be perceived till near half an hour after
three, when the muscles began to lose their
rigidity; the cheeks relaxed, and before five,
a silver spoon might be got between his teeth.
At this time they strove to make him swallow
some hot wine, which with much difficulty was
effected : after which, his face was covered with
sweat, and his cheeks began to return to their
natural colour. Soon afterwards he began to

38 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

move his eye-brows, and at six o'clock his aims
and hands. He was now placed in his bedj
before a good fire; his arms, and legs being
well covered with warm blankets. He took
also two more spoonfuls of hot wine; and,
about eight o'clock, began first to talk, but in a
manner very confused and unintelligible ; being
delirious, and fancying himself still in the forest.
By degrees the cold had almost left his feet, and
the blackness of the toes in a great measure
disappeared, although the free motion of the
joints was not as yet restored. About ten
o'clock, however he began to bend his back, and
complained of a violent pain in his legs. He
now took a little beer made hot, with an egg
beat in it, and soon after went to sleep. In the
morning, his feet were warm, and without pain,
and his toes recovered entirely their natural
colour, but both were extremely tender. His
pulse beat quick and strong, and together with
a burning thirst indicated bleeding necessary ;
but as no lancet could be procured, Mr. Nauder
ordered him some water gruel, which he drank
of at intervals plentifully, till noon ; when he
was relieved farther by a stooL He went again

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 39

in the evening to sleep, and was the next morn-
ing capable of sitting up, and being conveyed
home in a carriage, not indeed entirely free
from pain, but in a fair way of a perfect and
speedy recovery.

XIII,

Peter Zacchias, a celebrated physician of Rome $
relates the following appropriate story.

There was a young man in the hospital of
the Holy Ghost, who being attacked with the
plague^ from the violence of his distemper fell
into so perfect a syncope, as to be imagined
dead. His body was placed among those^
who, having died of the same malady, were
waiting for interment. Whilst these carcases
were transporting across the Tyber in a bark
destined for the purpose, the young man exhi-
bited some signs of life, upon which he was
immediately carried back to the hospital, where
he recovered. Two days afterwards, however

40 EEMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

he relapsed into a like syncope, and his body
once more numbered with the dead, was again
transported across the Tyber for burial. Again,
however, he came to himself; new cares were
bestowed upon him, and the assistance of suitable
remedies, not only completely restored him to
life, but even cured him so completely, that he
lived for many years afterwards."'1

XIV.

A young Lady, buried alive in Russia.

Hasty interment is still a prevalent custom
in Russia, and even premature burials are said
to be not quite unknown. A short time ago
the following horrid circumstance happened at
St. Petersburg.

A young nobleman, who had squandered
away his fortune, found his sister, to whom he
applied for assistance, not the least inclined, to
sacrifice her patrimony to his taste for dissipa-

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 41

tion. As he considered himself her heir, the
wicked thought arose in his breast, to make
himself master of her fortune. With this view,
he found means to give the unfortunate lady a
sleeping draught. She was now considered as
dead, and with every appearance of the deepest
sorrow, her interment was resolved upon. The
corpse was already placed before the altar, when
one of her friends happening to pass through
the place, was informed of her sudden death.
She hurried to the church, where the priest was
already pronouncing the blessing over the
corpse ; and in order to impress the last fare-
well kiss on the lips of her late dearly beloved
friend, she hastened to the coffin. She seized
her hand, and found it rather flaccid, but not
stiff. She touched her cheek, and imagined
she felt some natural warmth in it. She in-
sisted on stopping the ceremony, and trying
whether her friend might not be recalled to
life. But all was in vain ; neither the brother
nor the priest, would listen to her solicitations :
on the contrary, they ridiculed her as a person
out of her mind. Unfortunately, she no where
found assistance. She immediately, in her anx-

4$ REMARKABLE, INSTANCES OF

iety, threw herself into her carriage, and
hastened to the neighbouring seat of govern-
ment. Here she found a hearing ; proper per-
sons accompanied her to investigate the affair,
and she drove back with speed, but found her
friend already covered with sacred earth. The
interment had taken place the day before, and
the inhuman brother had already obtained
possession of her property ; while priests and
witnesses attested that the unfortunate person
was actually dead. Among the Russians, it is
reckoned to be a heinous sin to dig up a corpse;
and thus the desire of thegenerou sfriend, for a
long time experienced the most violent opposi-
tion, to convince herself of the truth by ocular
demonstration; till at last the commission of
inquiry conceived some suspicion, and insisted
on opening the grave, when the poor unfortu-
nate lady was discovered to have been buried
alive, as her face was much lacerated, and the
impression of her nails in the coffin lid. The
brother and the priest were immediately taken
into custody, confessed their crime, and under
went the punishment they so justly deserved.

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 43

XV.

Remarkable Trance experienced by the Ho-
nourable Mrs. Godfrey, sister to the Great
Duke of Marlborough.

This lady had been a long time ill in conse-
quence of the recent death of her brother the
Duke, but one Sunday fancying herself better
than she had been for some time, and able to
go to chapel; as she was dressing for that
purpose, she suddenly fell down to all appear-
ance dead.

The screams of her woman, and a female
friend, brought Colonel Godfrey into the room;
who, having probably seen instances of persons
remaining in a state of insensibility for a consi-
derable time, and afterwards recovering, directed
that his lady should be immediately put to bed,
and that two persons should constantly continue
with her, till indubitable symptoms appeared
of her decease

44 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

The consequences proved with how much
judgment the Colonel had acted. Notwith-
standing the opinion of the physicians, who all
declared that the breath of life was irrecoverably
departed; and in opposition to the solicitations
of his friends to have the body interred, he
continued resolute in his determination to the
contrary till the Sunday following ; when,
exactly at the same hour on which the change
had happened, signs appeared of returning
sensibility. So punctual was nature in her
operations upon this singular occasion, that
Mrs. Godfrey awoke from her trance just as the
chapel bell was once more ringing; which so
perfectly eradicated from her memory every
trace of her insensibility, that she blamed her
attendants for not awaking her in time to go to
church, as she had proposed to do.

Colonel Godfrey, whose tenderness to his
lady was unremitted, taking advantage of this
incident, prudently gave orders, that she should
by no means be made acquainted with what had
happened, lest it should make a melancholy
impression on her mind, and it is supposed,

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 45

that to the day of her death, she remained
ignorant of the transaction.

XVI.

Remarkable particulars of the death of Dr.
Walker, of Dublin, from the life of Mrs.
Bellamy.

Upon our arrival at Dublin (says this lady)
my mother and myself were very kindly receiv-
ed by an old acquaintance of hers, the lady of
the well known Doctor Walker. This gentle-
man at that time, was esteemed so eminent in
his profession, that he was accumulating by his
practice a capital fortune, notwithstanding he
lived in a very genteel stile. The Doctor was
then writing a treatise against the Irish custom
of burying the dead within a few hours after
their decease. He endeavoured therein to dis-
suade the Hibernians from pursuing so hazard-
ous a mode, as by interring bodies before any
symptoms of putrefaction appeared, it did not

46 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

unfrequently happen, that those who might
have recovered their vital powers, were prevent-
ed from doing so.

When my mother heared on what subject
the Doctor was writing, she related to him the
story of Mrs. Godfrey (i. e. the preceding one
in this book,) and as soon as she had concluded
it, to shew the Doctor, how consonant her
opinion on this point, was to his own, she pro-
mised him, that if she was in the same kingdom
with him when the king of terrors made -his
approach, she would carefully attend to the
state of his corpse, and take care that it should
not be entombed whilst there was the least
probability of its restoration to life.

In a subsequent letter, she resumes the sub-
ject, and concludes it with the following melan-
choly narrative.

In the afternoon I sent my servant, to enquire
after our good friend Doctor Walker, who was
ill of a fever. About seven she returned with
a countenance expressive of horror, and inform-

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 47

ed us that the poor Doctor had died during the
last night, and that they were already going to
bury him. And added, that as they were about
to shroud the body, the orifices which had been
made in his arms, on bleeding him before his
decease, had bled afresh.

As it was now so late in the evening, and the
house we had lately removed to, being full two
miles from the Doctor's residence, my mother
confined with the rheumatism, and myself much
indisposed, rendered it impossible for either of
us to reach the place of his abode, time enough
to prevent his premature interment ; which, but
for these reasons, we certainly should have done.
We likewise found that Mrs. Walker, had been
prevailed on by the earnest entreatise of her
sister, to leave the house^ and retire with her to
Dunleary. My mother, therefore, ordered the
servant to take a coach, and, if the corpse was
interred, to have it taken up at all events, cost
what it would.

You can give the common people o£ Ireland
no greater treat than a Wake. Our maid con-

48 HEMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

sequently had many companions" before she
reached the house, especially as she made no
secret of her errand. When they arrived, they
learned that the body had been interred imme-
diately after her departure, lest the disorder he
died of, which was thought to be epidemic,
should prove contagious. They were further
informed, that as Mrs. Walker was of the sect
of Anabaptists, it had been deposited, by her
order, in their burying ground, which was situ-
ated at the extremity of the city.

The people who accompanied our servant,
having come out with an intention of spending
the night in their favourite amusement, now
resolved to seek the sexton, and carry my mo-
ther's commands into execution : but as it was
late, and they could not find his house, they
clambered over the gate, and thus entered the
receptacle for the dead; and whilst they sat
round the grave, my servant heard, or thought
she heard, a groan, which made them expect,
with great impatience, the return of day light.

As soon as Aurora made lier appearance,

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 49

some labourers, who had just come to their
work, acquainted them where the sexton lived,
and he was prevailed on, though not without
some difficulty, to comply with their request.
Accordingly, the canonized bones of the doctor,
which had a few hours before been hearsed in
death, revisited the glimpse of morn. Upon
opening the coffin, (I shudder whilst I relate
the horrid scene) they found the body now
totally deprived of life, but observed, that the
late inhabitant of it had endeavoured to burst
his cearments, and leave the dreadful mansion
in which he was confined. He had actually
turned upon his side; and, as my servant had
reported, his arms bled afresh. The coffin was
carried to the house of the Sexton, where mul-
titudes, excited by curiosity, flocked from all
parts, to see this memorable instance of fruitless
precaution. The family, however, hearing of
the circumstances, the body was ordered to be
re-interred, and the affair was hushed up.

Are you casuist enough to tell me, how it
happens that we are generally disappointed in
the grand expectations of our lives, and find

50 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

our favourite wishes crossed ? - Never was there
a more singular confirmation of this fact, than
in the case of the Doctor. The fear of being
buried alive, seems to have engrossed all his
thoughts. The apprehensions which arose in
his mind, both on his own account, and that
of others, furnished him an inexhaustible fund
for conversation, and gave frequent employ-
ment to his pen. The presentiment which had
taken possession of him, was not to be suppres-
sed. But, alas ! how unavailing, from a com-
bination of preventive circumstances, did it
prove ! — Let it serve as a document to us, not
to fix our hearts with too much anxiety on any
object that lies within the reach of the accidents
of life, or to indulge too great apprehensions
of any dreaded evils.

I was greatly affected at the melancholy
accident which had just happened; but my
mother was almost distracted at being obliged
to break a promise she had so solemnly made,
and which would have proved so consonant to
the wishes-, of her old friend.

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 51

I have often wondered that humanity, exclu-
sive of affection, does not prevent those, who
have a regard for persons during their lives,
from leaving them in their last moments,
through a false tenderness, to the care of nurses
and servants, who are usually insensible to
every claim but those of their own ease or inte-
rest. Too susceptible of pain, from beholding
the expiring pangs of a beloved object, they
hasten from it ; whereas, that ought to be the
strongest motive for their stay, as these would
stimulate them to unremitted assiduity in ad-
ministering every needful assistance whilst life
remains, and to a due attention to the body
till its interment.

■V»-V»r%-"kV-<!,

XVII.

The following Story is related by a Traveller ',
who translated the particulars from a foreign
monument.

The heroine of this event was named Retch-
muth Adoleh. She was the wife of a mer-
d %

52 B3MARKABLE INSTANCES OF

chant of Cologne, and is said to have died of
the plague, which destroyed the greatest part
of that city in 1 571 . She was speedily interred,
and a ring of great value was suffered to remain
on her finger, which tempted the cupidity of
the grave-digger. The night was the time he
had planned for the plunder. On going to the
grave, opening the same, and attempting to
take the ring from off the finger of the lady,
she came to herself,, and so terrified the sacri-
legious thief, that he scampered away with
speed, and left his lanthom behind him. The
lady took advantage of his fright, and, with the
assistance of the lanthom, found her way home,
and lived afterwards to be the mother of three
children. After her real decease, she was
buried near the door of the same church, and
a tomb was erected over her sepulchre, from
whence this record is taken.

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 53

XVIII.

The following account of reanirnation is ex
traded from the first volume of the Causes
Celebrex, and was the subject of a serious
law suit in Paris.

Two men in trade, who lived in the street,
St. Honore, in Paris, nearly equal in circum-
stances, both following the same profession, and
united in the closest friendship, had each of
them a child, much about the same age. These
children were brought up. together, and con-
ceived a mutual attachment, which ripening
with years into a stronger and more lively sen-
timent, was approved by the parents on both
sides. This young couple was upon the point
of being made happy, by a more solid union,
when a rich financier, conceiving a passion for
the young maiden, unfortunately crossed their
inclinations, by demanding her in marriage.
The allurements of a more brilliant fortune,
seduced her lather and mother, notwithstand-
ing their daughter's repugnance to consent to
d 3

54 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

the change. To their entreaties, however, she
was obliged to yield, and sacrificed her affec-
tions, by becoming the wife of the financier.
Like a woman of virtue, she forbad her earlier
lover the house. A fit of melancholy, the con-
sequence of this violence done to her inclina-
tions, by entering into an engagement of inte-
rest, brought on her a malady, which so far
benumbed her faculties, that she was thought
by all her friends to be dead, and was accord-
ingly consigned to the grave. The former
lover conceiving, and hoping what he had heard
of her death, might only prove a syncope, or
fit of lethargy, (as she had been before subject
to those complaints) bribed the grave-digger,
to convey the body to his house in the night
time. He then used every means recommended
for restoring suspended animation; and at
length was overjoyed at finding his efforts prove
effectual.

It is not easy to conceive the surprise the
young woman was in on her resuscitation, when
she found herself in a strange house, and as it
were in the arms of her lover, who informed her

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 55

of what had taken place, and the risk he had run
on her account. She then comprehended the
extent of her obligation to her deliverer, and
love, more pathetic than all his persuasions to
unite their destinies, determined her, on her
recovery to escape with him into England :
where they lived for some years in the closest
union.

At the end of ten years, they conceived the
natural wish of revisiting their own country,
and at length returned to Paris, where they
took no precaution whatever, of concealing
themselves, being persuaded that no suspicion
would attend their arrival. It happened how-
ever by chance, that the financier met his wife in
one of the public walks. The sight of her,
made so strong an impression on him, that the
persuasion of her death could not efface it.
He contrived it so as to join her, and notwith-
standing, the language which she used to impose
upon him, he left her with the conviction that
lie was not deceived.

d 4

56 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

The strangeness of this -event, gave more
charms to the woman in the eyes of her former
husband, than she had for him before. He
acted with such address, that he discovered her
abode, notwithstanding all her precautions, and
reclaimed her with all the regular formalities of
justice.

It was in vain that the lover maintained the
right which his cares for his mistress gave him
to the possession of her : that he represented
her inevitable death, but for him: that he ought
even to be accused of homicide, for want of hav-
ing taken proper precautions to assure himself of
her death, and a thousand other ingenious
reasons which love suggested to him, but with-
out the desired effect. He found that the judi-
cial ear was against him, and not thinking it
expedient to wait the result of a definitive judg-
ment, he fled with his mistress into a foreign
country, where they passed the remainder of
their days, without further molestation.

We have before observed that several persons
reputed dead, had exhibited signs of life under

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 57

the blade of the Anatomist, and had conse-
quently deceived the judgment of the surgeon
who regarded them as defunct. Hence it fol-
lows, that apparent death often carries with it
the exterior characters of real death ; that men
of the faculty may be deceived, and much more
so those who are less instructed ; hence it fol-
lows likewise that for the good of humanity it is
indispensible that a regulation should be adopt-
ed, which would save us from the dreadful
horrors of so cruel an event.

XIX.

It is well known what happened to the cele-
brated Vesabe, successive physician to Charles
V. and to Philip II. of Spain, his son. Being
persuaded that a Spanish Nobleman whom he
attended was really dead, he asked the permis-
sion of opening him, which was granted. But
he had scarcely plunged the instrument into
the body of the unfortunate man, when he
remarked some signs of returning life. In
d 5

58 1EMAEKABLE INSTANCES OF

effect, he found, on opening his bosom, the heart
still palpitating. The relations of the deceased,
informed of the accident, were not satisfied
with pursuing him as a murderer ; they drag-
ged him, as a man guilty of sacrilege, before
the tribunal of the Inquisition.

As the fault was notorious, the judges of this
tribunal were for condemning him to the pu-
nishment attached to the impiety. But fortu-
nately for him, the King of Spain, by Ins
authority and entreaties, delivered him from this
certain danger, on condition of his expiating his
crime by a voyage to the holy-land. But the
unfortunate Vesabe did not long enjoy the par-
don which he thus obtained. The Venetian
senate having sent for him to fill the place of
Falloppe, a violent tempest overtook him on
his passage, and cast him on the island of
Zante, where after wandering about for several
days in the deserts, and suffering all the rigours
of hunger, he ended his life deplorably in 1664,
at the age of fifty eight.

PREMATURE IttTERMEXT. 59

XX.

We are informed in a treatise by Terilli,
that a lady of distinction in Spain, being
attacked with hysteric suffocations, was regard-
ed as dead. Her relations applied to a cele-
brated Anatomist to open her, and acquaint
himself more particularly with the cause of her
death. At the second stroke of his knife she
revived, and gave evident signs of life, by the
cries that were forced from her by this fatal
instrument The dreadful spectacle excited
such astonishment and horror in those present,
that this physician, who had hitherto enjoyed
the fairest reputation, abhorred now, and detest-
ed by every one, was compelled to quit not only
the city, where this tragedy was acted, but
even the very province itself, in order to with-
draw himself from the effects of public indig-
nation.

b 6

60 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

XXI.

Acilius Aviola was (according to Pliny)
concluded dead, both by his domestics and
physicians ; he was accordingly laid out upon
the ground for some time, and then carried
forth to his funeral pile: but as soon as the
flames began to catch his body> he cried out
that 'he was alive, imploring the assistance of
his schoolmaster, who was the only person that
had tarried by him: but it was too late; for
encompassed with flames, he was dead before he
could be succoured.

XXII.

Plato tells us of Erus Armenius being slain
in battle, among many others ; when they came
to take up the dead bodies upon the tenth day
after, they found, that though all the other car-
cases were putrid, this of his was entire and
uncorrupted; they therefore carried it home,

riiEMATUItE INTERMENT. Gl

that it might have the just and due funeral
rites performed to it. Two days they kept it
at home in that state, and on the twelfth day,
he was carried out to the funeral pile; and
being ready to be laid upon it, he returned to
life, to the admiration of all that were present.
He declared several strange and prodigious
things, which he had seen and known, during
all that time that he had remained in the state
of the dead.

XXIII.

One of the noble family of the Tatoreidi,
being seized with the plague in Burgundy,
was supposed to die thereof, and was put into a
coffin to be carried to the sepulchres of his
ancestor, which were distant from that place
some four German miles. Night coming on,
the corpse was disposed in a barn, and there
attended by some rustics. These perceived a
great quantity of fresh blood to drain through
the chinks of the coffin ; whereupon they open-

62 REMARKABLE IXSTAXCES OF

ed it, and found that the body was wounded by
a nail that was driven into the shoulder through
the coffin ; and that the wound was much torn
by the jogging of the chariot he was carried in ;
but withal, they discovered that the natural
heat had not left his breast. They took -him
out, and laid him before the fire- he recovered
as out of a deep sleep, ignorant of all that had
passed. He afterwards married a wife, by
whom he had a daughter ; married afterwards
to Huldericus a Psirt; from his daughter came
Sigismundus a Psirt, chief Pastor of St. Mary's
Church in Basil.

XXIV.

In the year 1650 Anne Green was tried at
Oxford, before Serjeant Umpton Croke, for the
murder of her bastard child, and by him sen-
tenced to be hanged; which sentence was
accordingly -executed on the fourteenth day of
December, in the Castle- Yard, Oxford, where
she hung about half an hour, being pulled by

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 63

the legs, and, after all, had several strokes
given her on the stomach with the butt end of a
musket. Being cut down, she was put into a cof-
fin, and carried to a house to be dissected ; where
when they opened the coffin, notwithstanding
the rope remained fast jammed round her neck,
they perceived her breast to rise: whereupon
one Mason, a tailor, intending an act of huma-
nity, stamped on her breast and belly ; and one
Oran, a soldier, struck her with the butt end of
his musket. After all this, when Sir William
Patty, Dr. Willis, and Mr. Clarke, came to
prepare the body for dissection, they perceived
some small rattling in her throat, which induced
them to desist from their original design, and
began to use means for her recovery ; in which
they were so successful, that within fourteen
hours she began to speak, and the next day
talked and prayed very heartily. Nor did the
humanity of the Doctors stop, till by obtaining
a pardon for her, they secured that life, which
their skill had restored. She was afterwards
married, had three children, lived in good
repute among her neighbours, at Steeple-Bar-
ton, and died in 1659. What was very re-

64 EEMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

markable, and distinguished the hand of Pro-
vidence in her recovery, she was found to be
innocent of the crime for which she suffered ;
and it appeared the child had never been alive,
but came from her spontaneously, four months
after conception.

XXV.

In the year 1658, Elizabeth, the servant of
one Mrs. Cope, of Magdalen parish, Oxford,
was convicted of killing her bastard child, and
was according hanged at Green-ditch, where
she hung so long, that one of the by-standers
said, if she was not dead, he would be hanged
for her. When cut down, the gallows being
very high, she fell with such violence to the
ground, that seemed sufficient of itself to have
killed her. After this, she was put in a coffin,
and carried to the George Inn, in Magdalen
parish ; where signs of life being observed in
her, she was blooded, and put to bed to a
young woman; by which means she came to

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 65

herself, and, to all appearance, might have
lived many years : but the next night, she was,
by the order of one Mallony, a bailiff of the
city, barbarously dragged to Gloucester Green,
and there was hanged upon a tree, till she was
dead.

XXVI.

In the year 1797, a fine boy, about nine
years old, son of Mr. Baldock, Surgeon and
Apothecary, at Burwash, in Sussex, had the
misfortune to fall into a pond of water, about
twenty roods from his father's house, wherein
he soon sunk to the bottom, and there remained
at least a quarter of an hour, before any one
went to his assistance. By the time he was
taken out, the father had arrived at the spot,
wlfere he found his son to all appearance dead,
his face having turned quite black, and his
pulsation totally left him; he, however, took
up the body, and carried it home, losing no
time in stripping off the wet cloaths, and getting

66 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

it into a warm bed. He next proceeded to wipe
the skin quite dry with napkins, and afterwards
to rub the body well with hot cloths. Mr.
and Mrs. B. continued the stimulating process
for a full hour, without the smallest prospect
of success; they nevertheless persevered, and
soon afterwards had the happiness to discover
some small symptoms of returning life, from
the emission of a very feeble groan. This en-
couraged them to redouble their exertions;
and though they proved wholly ineffectual for
more than another hour; during which time
the body appeared as a corpse before them,
they did not relax in their efforts ; and, at the
expiration of two hours and an half, they
brought the vital functions into more visible
action, which first appeared by a sort of con-
vulsive motion in one hand. The next favour-
able symptoms discovered, were a little motion
in one foot, an inward crying, and a very lan-
guid pulse. The return of animation was now
more rapid, and apparently very painful ; for
the poor boy first cried low, and presently after
very loud ; his eyes, which were naturally pro-
minent, on a sudden burst wide open, and

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 67

appeared very red and full of terror. After
this, he was taken out of bed, and put breast
high, into water blood warm, in which situa-
tion he appeared calm for about ten minutes,
when he again cried, but not so strong as be-
fore. Being taken out of the bath, (where the
friction was still kept up with the hand) wiped
dry, and put again into a warm bed, he was
soon after perceived to breathe, though very
quick and feeble. Having in some degree
recovered his senses, he spoke a few words im-
perfectly; but his speech soon became more
perfect ; and having swallowed a trifling potion
his father administered to him, he complained
of great pain in his stomach and bowels, which
was soon relieved by an embrocation, volatile,
oily, and anodyne. The next night he got
rest^by the help of a cordial anodyne ; but it
was a fortnight before he wholly recovered.

We have been particular in stating the above
facts, from an idea that the knowledge of them
may prove useful in similar accidents, and in-
deed in all cases of suspended animation.

68 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

XXVII.

Doctor Tissot mentions an instance of
a girl who was restored to life, after she had
been taken out of the water, swelled, bloated,
and to all appearance dead, by laying her naked
body upon hot ashes, covering her with others
equally hot, putting a bonnet round her head,
and a stocking round her neck, stuffed with the
same, and heaping coverings over all. After
she had remained half an hour in this situation,
her pulse returned, she recovered her speech,
and cried out, I freeze, I freeze ; a little
cherry brandy was given her^ and she remained
buried, as it were, under the ashes for eight
hours. Afterwards she was taken out, without
any other complaint, except that of lassitude or
weariness, which went off in a few days. The
Doctor mentions likewise an instance of a man
who was restored to life, after he had remained
six hours under water, by the heat of a dung-
hill.

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 69

XXVIII.

Doctor Alexander mentions an instance
of a man, who was to all appearance killed by
a blow on the breast, but recovered on being
immersed for some time in warm water. These,
and many other instances of a similar nature,
amount to a full proof of this fact, that many
of those unhappy persons who lose their lives,
by falls, blows, and other accidents, might be
saved by the use of proper means duly persisted
in.

%MH%MMvvn

XXIX.

Mr. Tossach, Surgeon at Alloa, relates the
case of a man suffocated by the steam of burn-
ing coal, who he recovered by blowing his
breath into the patient's mouth, bleeding him
in the arm, and causing him to be well rubbed
and tossed about.

70 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

And Doctor Frewen, of Sussex,
the case of a young man who was stupified by
the smoke of sea coal, but was recovered by
being plunged into cold water, and afterwards
laid in a warm bed.

iWWrt«\«»1.

XXX.

Even in old age, when life seems to have
been gradually drawing to a close, the appear-
ances of death are often fallacious.

A Lady in Cornwall, more than eighty
years of age, who had been a considerable time
declining, took to her bed, and in a few days
seemingly expired in the morning. As she had
often desired not to be buried till she had been
two days dead, her request was to have been
regularly complied with by her relations. All
that saw her looked upon her as dead, and the
report was current through the whole place ;
nay, a gentleman of the town actually wrote to
his friend in the island of Scilly, that she was

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 71

deceased. But one of those who were paying
the last kind office of humanity to her remains,
perceived some warmth about the middle of
the back ; and acquainting her friends with it,
they applied a mirror to her mouth ; but, after
repeated trials, could not observe it in the least
stained ; her under jaw was likewise fallen, as
the common phrase is ; and, in short, she had
the appearance of a dead person. All this time
she had not been stripped or dressed ; but the
windows were opened as is usual in the cham-
bers of the deceased. In the evening the heat
seemed to increase, and at length she was per-
ceived to breathe.

XXXI.

Monsieur Janin, of the Royal College of
Surgery at Paris, relates, that a Nurse having
had the misfortune to overlay a child, he was
called in, and found the infant without any
signs of life ; no pulsation in the arteries, no
respiration, the face livid, the eyes open, dull,

72 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

and tarnished, the nose full of snivel, the mouth
gaping, in short, it was almost cold. Whilst
some linen clothes and a parcel of ashes were
warming, he had the boy unswathed, and laid
him in a warm bed, and on the right side. He
was there rubbed all over with fine linen, for
fear of fretting his tender and delicate skim
As soon as the ashes had received their due
degree of heat, Mr. Janin buried him in them,
except the face, placed him on the side opposite
to that on which he had been at first laid, and
covered him with a blanket. He had a bottle
of Eau de luce in his pocket, which he present-
ed to his nose from time to time ; and between
whiles some puifs of tobacco were blown up his
nostrils : to these succeeded the blowing into Ins
mouth, and squeezing tight his nose. Animal
heat began thus to be excited gradually : the
pulsations of the temporal artery were soon
felt, the breathing became more frequent and
free, and the eyes closed and opened alternately.
At length the child fetched some cries expres-
sive of his want of the breast, which being
applied to his mouth, he catched at it with
avidity, and sucked, as if nothing had happened

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 75

to him. Though the pulsations of the arteries
were by this time very well re-established, and
it was hot weather, yet Monsieur Janin thought
it adviseable to leave his little patient three
quarters of an hour longer under the ashes,
He was afterwards taken out, cleaned and
dressed as usual ; to which a gentle sleep suc»
ceeded3 and he continued perfectly welh

^%.-^/WWW<« VW*

XXXIL

Mb, Glover, Surgeon in Doctor's Commons,
London, relates the case of a person who was
restored to life after twenty nine minutes hang-,
ing, and continued in good health for many
years after.

The principal means used to restore this
man to life were opening the temporal artery
and the external jugular; rubbing the backs
mouth, and neck? with a quantity of volatile
spirits and oil ; administering the tobacco clys-
ter by means of lighted pipes, and strong fric*

E

74 REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF

tions of the legs and arms. This course had
been continued for about four hours, when an
incission was made into the wind pipe, and air
blown strongly through a canula into the lungs.
About twenty minutes after this the blood
at the artery began to run down the face, and a
slow pulse was just perceptible at the wrist.
The frictions were continued for some time lon-
ger ; his pulse became more frequent, and his
mouth and nose being irritated with spirit of
salammoniac, he opened his eyes. Warm cor-
dials were then administered to him, and in two
days he was so well as to be able to walk eight,
miles,

XXXIII.

In the parish of St. Clements in Colchester,
a child of six months old, lying upon its
mother's lap, having had the breast, was seized
with a strong convulsion fit, which lasted so
long, and ended with so total a privation of
motion in the body, lungs, and pulse, that it

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 75

was deemed absolutely dead. It was accord*
Ingly stripped, laid out, the passing bell, order-
ed to be tolled, and a coffin to be made ; but
a neighbouring gentlewoman who used to ad-
mire the child, hearing of its sudden death,
hastened to the house, and upon examining the
child, found it not cold, its joints limber, and
fancied that a glass she held to its mouth and
nose was a little damped with the breath ; upon
which, she took the child in her lap, sat down
before the fire, rubbed it, and kept it in gentle
agitation. In a quarter of an hour she felt the
heart begin to beat faintly ; she then put a little
of the mother's milk into its mouth, continued
to rub its palms and soles ; found the child
begin to move, and the milk was swallowed;
and in another quarter of an hour, she had the
satisfaction of restoring to its disconsolate mo-
ther the babe quite recovered? eager to lay hold
of the breast, and able to suck again. The
child throve, had no more fits, is grown up, and
at present alive, i. e. 1803,

These means, which are certainly in the
power of every person, were sufficient to restore
B %

76 REMARKABLE INSTANCESOF

to life an infant to all appearance dead, and who
in all probability, but for the use of these
simple endeavours would have remained so.
There are however, many other things which
miffht be done in case the above should not
succeed; as rubbing the body with strong
spirits, covering it with warm ashes or salt3
blowing air into the lungs, throwing up warm
stimulating clysters, or the smoke of tobacco into
the intestines, and such like,

When children are dead born, or expire soon
after the birth, the same means ought to be
used for their recovery, as if they had expired in
circumstances similar to those mentioned above,

These directions may likewise be extended
to adults, attention being always paid to the age
and other circumstances.

VlVt'»1Wi1'i\»*

The foregoing cases and observations afford
sufficient proof of the success which may attend
the endeavours of persons totally ignorant of
medicine, in assisting those who are suddenly

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 77

deprived of life by any accident or disease.
Many facts of a similar nature might be ad-
duced, were it necessary, but these, it is hoped,
will be sufficient to call up the attention of the
public, and to excite the humane and bene-
volent to exert their utmost endeavour for the
preservation of their fellow creatures.

In short, not only the ordinary signs are
very uncertain, but we may say the same of
the stiffness of the limbs, which may be convul-
sive ; of the dilation of the pupil of the eye,
which may proceed from the same cause; of
putrefaction, which may equally attack some
parts of a living body, and of several others,
Haller, convinced of the uncertainty of all
these signs, proposes a new one, which he con-
siders as infallible. — " If the person (says he)
be still in life, the mouth will immediately shut
of itself, because the contraction of the muscles
of the jaw will awaken their irritability .', The
jaw however, may be deprived of its irritability
though a man may not be dead. Life is
preserved a long time in the passage of the
intestines. The sign pointed out by Dr.
e 3

7$ REMARKABLE INSTATES 0?

Fothergill appears to deserve more attention.—*
" If the air blown into the mouth, (says this
physician) passes freely through all the alimen-
tary channels, it affords a strong presumption,
that the irritability of the internal sphincters is
destroyed, and consequently that life is at an end."
> — These signs, which deserve to be confirmed
by new experiments, are doubtless not known
to Undertakers*

The difficulty of distinguishing a person ap»
parently dead from one who is really so, has,
in all countries where bodies have been interred
too precipitately, rendered it necessary for the
law to assist humanity. Of several regulations
made on this subject, we shall quote only a few
of the most recent; such as those of Arras, in
1772; of Mantua, in 1774; of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, in 1775 ; of the Senuhausee
of Sivrai, in Poitore, in 1777; and of the Par-
liament of Metz in the same year. To give an
idea of the rest, it will be sufficient to relate
only that of Tuscany. By this edict, the
Grand Duke forbids the precipitate interment
of persons who dies suddenly. He orders the

PREMATURE INTERMENT. 79

magistrates of health to be informed, that phy-
sicians and surgeons may examine the body ;
that they may use every endeavour to recal it
to life, if possible, or to discover the cause of
its death ; and that they shall make a report
of their procedure to a certain tribunal. On
this occasion, the magistrate of health orders
the dead not to be covered until the moment
they are about to be buried, except so far as
decency requires; observing always, that the
body be not closely confined, and that nothing
may compress the jugular veins and the carotid
arteries. He forbids people to be interred ac-
cording to the ancient method; and requires
that the arms, and the hands, should be left
extended, and that they should not be folded
or placed cross-wise upon the breast. He for-
bids, above all, to press the jaws one against
the other ; or to fill the mouth and nostrils with
cotton, or other stuffing. And lastly, he re-
commends not to cover the visage with any kind
of cloth, until the body is deposited in its
coffin.

E 4

SO REMARKABLE INSTANCES QT

We sliall conclude this article by subjoining*
from Dr. Hawes^s Address to the Public on this
subject, a few of the cases in which this falla-
cious appearance of death is most likely to
happen, together with the respective modes of
treatment which he recommends,

In apoplectic and fainting fits, and in those
arising from any violent agitation of mind,
and also when opium or spirituous liquors have
been taken in too great a quantity, there is
reason to believe that the appearance of death
has been frequently mistaken for the reality.
In these cases, the means recommeuded by the
Humane Society for the recovery of drowned
persons* should be persevered in for several
hours ; and bleeding, which in similar circum-
stances has sometimes proved pernicious, should
be used with great caution. In the two latter
instances, it will be highly expedient, with a
view of counteracting the soporific effects of
opium and spirits, to convey into the stomach,
by a proper tube, a solution of tartar emetic,
and by various other means, to excite vomit-

PREMATURE INTERMENT, 6l

From the number of children carried off by
convulsions, and the certainty arising from un-
doubted facts, that some who have in appear-
ance died from that cause have been recovered ;
there is the greatest reason for concluding, that
many, in consequence of this disease, have been
prematurely numbered among the dead ; and
that the fond parent, by neglecting the means
of recalling life, has often been the guiltless
executioner of her own offspring. To prevent
the commission of such dreadful mistakes, no
child, whose life has been apparently extin-
guished by convulsions, should be consigned to
the grave, till the means of recovery above re-
commended in apoplexies, &c. have been tried ;
and, if possible, under the direction of some
skilful practitioner of medicine, who may vary
them as circumstances shall require.

When fevers arise in weak habits, or when the
cure of them has been principally attempted by
means of depletion, the consequent debility is
often very great, and the patient sometimes,
sinks into a state which bears so close an affinity
to that of death, that there is reason to suspect
e 5

82 REMARKABLE INSTANCES; &C.

it has too often deceived the" by-standers, and
induced them to send for the undertaker, when
they should have had recourse to medicine. In
such cases, volatiles, eau de luce for example,
should be applied to the nose, rubbed on the
temples, and sprinkled often about the bed;
hot flannels, moistened with a strong solution
of camphorated spirit may likewise be applied
over the breast, and renewed every quarter of
an hour ; and as soon as the patient is able to
swallow, a tea spoonful of the strongest cordial
should be given every five minutes.

The same methods may also be used with
propriety, in the small pox, when the pustules
sink, and death apparently ensues; and like-
wise in any other acute disease, when the vital
functions are suspended from a similar cause.

ACCOUNT

Of the various

MODES OF BURYING THE DEAD,

ADOPTED BY DIFFERENT NATIONS.

THE primitive Christians buried their dead
after the manner of the Jews. They first
washed, then embalmed them, spending, (says
Tertullian,) more perfumes, and aromatic gums,
upon such occasions, than the heathens did in
their sacrifices. They wrapt the corpse in fine
linen, or silk, and sometimes put them on rich
habits. They then laid them forth for the
space of three days, during which they con-
stantly attended the dead body, and passed the
time in watching and praying by it. Then
they carried it to the grave, with torches and
flambeaus, singing psalms and hymns to the
praise of God, and in testimony of their hopes
e 6

84 VARIOUS MODES OF

of the resurrection. They recommended the
dead likewise in their prayers, received the
communion, and made their Agapoe, or love
feasts, with the distribution of other charities
for the poor.

At the end of the year, they made a fresh
commemoration for them, and so from year to
year; beside the standing commemoration for
the dead, always joined with the eucharist,
they frequently put into the grave several
things, as marks of honour to the deceased, or
to preserve his memory ; such as the badges of
his dignity, the instruments and acts of his
martyrdom, an epitaph, or at least his name:
and sometimes they threw in medals, laurel
leaves, some crosses, and the gospel. And
whereas the heathens, built stately tombs for
their dead, either by the sides of great roads,
or in the open fields; the Christians, on the
contrary, disposed of their deceased, either
after the common way of interment, or laying
them in vaults under ground; such were the
catacombs near Rome, — They had anciently,
a religious ambition to be buried near the

BURYING THE DEAD. 8c>

bodies of martyrs, and this is that which, at
last, brought so many graves and tombs into
the churches ; which were frequently erected
over the graves of martyrs : this was the
occasion of burying in churches; for a long time
it was the custom to bury the dead no where
but without the walls of cities.

As to the old Greeks, after they had closed
the eyes of the deceased, they used to make a
great noise with a sort of bell, done as it is
supposed either to scare away the furies and hob-
goblins, or else to wake the person, in case he
was only in a lethargy or apoplectic fit.
Afterwards they put a piece of money into his
mouth, to pay his passage over the Styx,
giving him likewise a piece of meat to put
Cerberus in good humour: they then put a
bandage, or little scarf over his eyes, and his
face was covered to his chin with cloth. This
office was to be performed by the nearest
relations, who w-ere likewise obliged to wash
the body with warm water and anoint it.
This was properly the business of women.
The corpse was likewise wrapt in fresh line%

86 various hobes or*

or new cloth, made into a sort of straight
gown. The body was afterwards crowned
with chaplets, to intimate the deceased had
conquered the misfortunes of this life. They
likewise put some sweetmeats into his mouth,
which was part of the entertainment of the
Olympionces. The funeral being thus far
prepared, they placed the corpse at the gate
of the house, which was a sort of laying in
state.

The day after, before sun-rise, the Greeks
used to carry the corpse to the funeral pile.
The expence upon this occasion, though mo-
derate at first, grew afterwards to a great
excess ; therefore Solon made a sumptuary
law, to oblige the Athenians to frugality.
The relations used to attend the corpse to the
funeral pile ; women under three score years
of age, unless pretty near related, were not
permitted to come into the house where the
corpse lay ; however all of that sex were
allowed to accompany the body to the place
of sepulchre: at the latter end of the solem-
nity the company had a treat at the expence

BURYING- THE DEAD. 87

of the relations, at which time, if the deceased
had done any thing remarkable, it was set
forth in a speech ; which privilege was after-
wards granted to none but those who died in
the field, for their country, or such as were
buried at the charge of the state, which in such
cases was done in the Ceramicus.

It was a custom among the Greeks, to bury
persons of the best quality in raised grounds,
till, at last, there were two public burying
places appointed by the state, called Ceramici,
one within, and the other without the wall.
In the first of which, those who died in the
field, were buried. If any person happened
to die on their travels, or in another country,
their way was to anoint the corpse with honey,
to preserve it from putrefaction, till they could
bring it home. And sometimes they wrapt
them alive, in cerecloth for the same pur-
pose.

The Egyptians of which we shall speak
more fully hereafter, used to embalm their
dead with a composition made of wine and

S8 VARIOUS MODES OF

odoriferous drugs, such as myrrh, cinnamon,
cedar, kc, This embalming was a whole
month in finishing, it being necessary to repeat
the aromatic gums under the corpse a great
many times. Herodotus observes, that the
Egyptians used to dress the corpse in the
same habit that the person wore, and put it
into a transparent glass coffin.

The Romans paid the last offices to the
dead, in the following manner : after they
had closed the eyes of the dead, they called
out to him several times, to see if he was not
fallen into a swoon, or lethargical distemper.—
After this, they washed the corpse with warm
water, and rubbed it with perfumes. This
being done, they put a sort of white gown
upon him, and brought him to the door with
his feet to the street, then they stuck branches
of cypress before the house.

This ceremony continued seven days, and
upon the eighth they carried the corpse to
the place where it was to be burnt: amongst
people ©f fortune, the bier, or coffin, was

.BURYING THE DEAD. 89

generally carried by relations: and at the
funerals of Emperors and Consuls ; the Sena-
tors, and Magistrates of the Republic did this
office ; but the common people were carried
by Vespillones, or common bearers. When
persons of high blood, or who were eminent
for posts in government, or remarkable actions,
were brought to the pile, the distinctions of
their quality were carried before the coffin, as
the consular fasces, the sword and mace, their
ancestors in wax work, the plunder they had
gained upon the enemy, the civic, mural, &c.
crowns which they had deserved, and every
tiling else that might add to their figure,
Servius observes, that in the beginning of the
Republic, they buried their dead in their
houses : but by a law of the twelve tables, it
was forbidden either to bury, or burn any
corpse within the city of Rome ; but after-
wards, the vestal virgins, and Emperors had a
privilege of exception ; as for other people
they were either interred in the highways, or
in their ground, out of the town. At the
burning of the corpse, they laid it fast upon a

90 VARIOUS MODES OF

pile of wood, of pines, yew, and other resemb-
ling trees, which lay one upon another in the
figure of an altar. The corpse being dressed,
and sprinkled with rich liquors, lay in a coffin,
made on purpose, with his face upwards, and
a piece of silver in his mouth to pay Charon
for his fare. The pile was surrounded with
cypress, an embalm of grief and death ; after
this some of the nearest relations, turning their
back to the pile, set fire to it with a torch,
which they held behind them ; and the fire
being lighted, they threw in the clothes, arms,
and other rich goods, which the deceased
person had the greatest fancy for. When
the corpse was burnt, they wetted the bones
and the ashes with milk and wine, and then
put them into an urn, which they buried in a
sepulchre for that purpose. Before this urn,
they set a little altar, where they burnt
perfumes.

Their mourning lasted ten months, which
was Romulus's year; but it was possible to
shorten this term by some public success of the

BURYING THE £>EAD. 91

state, or any extraordinary good fortune, which
happened to a private family.

^w»*>vwfc'v»'v* ■*,

Account of the opening of the Tomb of King
Edward I. in Westminster Abbey, 467 years
after its Interment,

The following interesting account of the
effect produced by the mode of preservation,
which, for many centuries, has been made
use of upon the bodies of royal personages,
will it is presumed, be found not unacceptable
to our readers, It is extracted from Sir
Joseph AylonVs account of the opening of the
Tomb of Edward the First, in Westminster
Abbey 467 years after its interment. After
describing the manner of opening the tomb
and coffin, which was done with the utmost
care, in the presence of the Reverend Doctor
Thomas, then Dean of Westminster, two of
the prebends, and the President of the Anti
quarian Society, the writer says,

Ot VARIOUS MODES OF

« On lifting up the lid, the royal corpse
was found wrapped up within a large square
mantle of strong, course^ and thick linen cloth,
diapered, of a dull, pale, yellowish brown colour,
and waxed on its under side.""

The head and face were entirely covered with
a sudarium, or face cloth, of crimson sarsenet,
the substance whereof was so much perished, as
to have a cobwebJike face, and the appearance
of fine lint. The sudarium was formed into
three folds. When the folds of the external
wrapper were thrown back, and the -sudarium
removed, the corpse was* discovered, richly
habited, adorned with ensigns of royalty, and
almost entire, notwithstanding the length of
time that it had been entombed. Its innermost
covering seemed to have been a very fine linen
cerecloth, dressed close to every part of the
body, and superinduced with such accuracy
and exactness, that the fingers and thumbs of
both the hands had each of them a separate and
distinct envelope of that material. The face,
which had a similar covering, closely fitted
thereto, retained its exact form, although part

BURYING THE DEAD. 95

of the flesh appeared to be somewhat wasted.
It was of a dark brown, or chocolate colour,
approaching to black, as were the hands and
lingers. The chin and lips were entire, but
without any beard ; and a sinking or dip, be
tween the chin and underlip, was very conspi-
cuous. Both the lips were prominent, the nose
short, as if shrunk ; but the apertures of the
nostrils were visible. There was an unusual
fall, or cavity, on that part of the bridge of the
nose which separates the orbits of the eyes ; and
some globular substance, possibly the fleshy
part of the eye-balls, was moveable in their
sockets, under the envelope. Below the chin,
and under jaw, was lodged a quantity of black
dust, which had neither smell nor coherence ;
but, whether the same had been flesh or spices,
could not be ascertained. Gne of the joints of
the middle finger of the right hand was loose,
but those of the left hand were quite perfect.
The corpse, from the waist downward, was
covered with a large piece of rich figured cloth
of gold, which was loose over the lower part of
the tunic, thighs, legs and feet, and tucked
down behind the .soles of the latter, There

94 VARIOUS MODES OF

did not remain any appearance of gloves ; but,
on the back of each hand, and just below the
knuckle of the middle finger, lay a quatre-soil,
of the same metal as those in the stole (i. e. of
fillagree work, in metal gilt, elegantly chased
in figure.) The feet, with their toes, soles, and
heels, seemed to be perfectly entire ; but, whe^
ther they have sandals on them, or not, is ua-=
certain, as the cloth tucked over them was not
removed. On measuring the body by a rod,
quadrated into inches, divided into quarters, it
appeared to be exactly six feet and two inches
in length.

%-k»V*-'»/V'* * »\ ■*%-%

The following remarkable jaci is translated
from the Imperial Gazette of Petersburg^
dated December Ytth, 1798.

" In 1796, a cofHn was found at the Con«
vent of Sumovin, in the city of Trotma, in the
eparchy of Volgoda, containing a corpse, in
the habit of a Monk, It had been interred in
1568, yet was in a state of perfect preservation
as were also the garments, From the letters
embroidered on them,, it was found to be the

BURYING THE DEAD. 95

body of the most memorable Feodose Sumovin,
founder and superior of the Convent, and who
had been acknowledged as a saint during his
life, for the miracles he had performed.'"

The Emperor Paul, on hearing this report
caused the following proclamation to be issued.

" We Paul, &c. having been certified by a
special report of the most holy synod, of the
discovery that has been made in the Convent
of Spasso Sumovia, of the miraculous remains
of the most venerable Feodose, which miraculous
remains distinguish themselves by the happy
care of all those who have recourse to them
with entire confidence, we take the discovery
of these holy remains as a visible sign, that
the Lord has cast his most gracious eye in the
most distinguished manner on our reign. For
this reason, we offer our fervent prayers and
our gratitudes to the Supreme Dispenser of all
things, and charge our most holy synod to
announce this memorable discovery throughout
all our empire, according to the forms pre-
scribed by the holy church, and by the hol$
fathers, &c, the $8th, September 1798."

OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

DANGER OF BURYING IN CHURCHES

AND

CONFINED CHURCH-YARDS.

IT is to be feared that the ancients had
juster and more rational ideas, relative to the
disposal of the dead, than the moderns seem in
general to possess. The cometaries in popu-
lous and crowded cities are, for the most part,
not only offensive, but destructive, and er>gen»
der diseases. Quiet, remote, and unfrequented
places, if properly secured, are certainly the
most suitable for the purposes of interment.
The practice of burying in churches, or near
them, has not the least foundation in holy writ ;
on the contrary, we know, that under the Mcn
saic dispensation, the bodies of the dead were
considered as a pollution to the priest and the
altar ; and the custom which prevails at present,
was introduced by the Romish clergy, who pre
tended that the defunct enjoyed great and pe-
culiar privileges by having their remains depo*
sited in consecrated ground.

BURYING IN CHURCHES. 97

The Germans have begun to remove the
burying-place a mile or two from every city or
town, by which means they have abolished^ or
paved the way towards abolishing, all the non-
sensical epitaphs and laughable inscriptions,
which generally abound in church-yards, and
too often disgrace the memory they mean to
celebrate ; and have substituted for the offensive
cemetry an agreeable kind of garden, more cal-
culated to inspire calm devotions than senti-
ments of horror.

Vide Renders Tour through Germany,

In the voyages and travels of Dr. Hassel-
quist, a Swedish physician, he observes, con-
cerning burials in churches and towns : " The
burying places of the Turks are handsome and
agreeable, which is owing chiefly to the many
fine plants that grow in them, and which they
carefully place over their dead. The Turks
are much more consistent than the Christians,
when they bury their dead without the town,
and plant over them such vegetables as by their
aromatic smell can drive away the fatal odours

F

98 OBSEEVATIONS OX ,

with which the air is filled "in such places. I
am persuaded that by this they escape many
misfortunes which affect Christians from wander-
ing and dwelling continually among the dead."

The great Sir Matthew Hale was always
very much against burying in churches, and
used to say, " that churches were for the living,
and the church-yards for the dead,"" He him-
self was interred in the church-yard of Alderley,
in Gloucestershire.

In Mold church, in Flintshire, is an epitaph
on Dr. William Wynne, written by himself;
in which are these words :

In conformity to an ancient usage,

From a proper regard to decency,

And a concern for the health

of his fellow-creatures,

He was moved to give particular directions

for being buried in the adjoining church-yard,

" and not in the church."

•WWWVWl'WW

In 1776, The king of France prohibited
the burying in churches.

BURYING IN CHURCHES. 99

" Two respectable correspondents," observes
a writer, in one of the early volumes of the
Monthly Magazine, have very properly cen-
sured and exposed the indecency, and even
danger, of burying in churches and in towns.
In addition to their remarks and anecdotes,
allow me a place, if you can, for an extract
from a very scarce discourse, by that learned
and eminently pious prelate, Joseph Hall,
preached at Exeter, August the 24th, 1637,
on the consecration of a new burial place. The
text, which is very applicable, . and admirably
elucidated, is Genesis, the 23rd chapter, 19th
and 20th verses. — " And after this, Abraham
buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field
Machpelah, before Mamre, the same is Hebron
in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the
cave that is therein, were made sure to Abra-
ham for a possession of a burying place by the
sons of Beth."

After making several pertinent observations
on the subject, the excellent Bishop says :
46 Hitherto that there must be a meet place,
v o.

100 OBSERVATIONS ON

a place fixed and designed for the burial of the
dead ; now let us a little look into the choice of
the place ; it was a field, and a cave in that
field; a field not sub-tecto, but sub~dio ; a
field before Mamre, a city that took its
name from the owner, Abraham's assistant in
his war; before it, not in it; and indeed
both these are fit and exemplary : it was
the ancientest and best way that sepultures
should be without the gates of the city ; hence
you find that our Saviour met the bier of the
widow's son as he was carried out of the gates
of Nam to his burial ; and hence of old was
wont to be that proclamation of the Roman
funerals, alius cefertur fir as. And we find
that Joseph of Arimathea, had his private
burial place in his garden without the City,
(for it was near to Calvary) and so was Laza-
rus, his sepulchre without Bethany. Our
Saviour staid in the field, till the sisters came
forth to him, and the neighbours came forth
after them : so they went together to the
sepulchre. And certainly much might be
said to this purpose for the convenience of
out funerals, without respect of those Jewish
grounds, who held a kind of impurity in the

BURYING IN CHURCHES. 101

corpses of the dead ; but that which might
be said, is rather out of matter of wholesom-
ness and civil considerations, than out of the
grounds of theology. In time, this rite of
burial, did so creep within the walls, that it
insinuated itself into churches, yea, into the
Holy of Holies, — Choirs, and chancels, near
unto the holy table, God's evangelical altar;
but I must tell you, this custom hath found
entertainment only in the Western churches,
that is, those that were of correspondence
with the Roman ; for the Greek church allows
no such practice, and the Roman at first
admitted it very sparingly, so as (elim epis
copi, et alii principes sepelie bantur in
ecclesia) none but princes and bishops (as
Martinus Vivaldus) were of old interred in
churches; afterwards the privileges grew lar-
ger, to other eminent benefactors into the
church, and none but them : and now that it
is grown so common, both in our churches and
the Roman, we may thank partly superstition,
partly ambition and covetousness ; superstition
of them that think the holiness of the place
doth not a little avail the soul; ambition
of those that love these (7r^(ovotiA»oi«r) both

102 OBSERVATIONS ON

living and dead : covetousness of those greedy
hucksters of the church of Rome, who upon
the sale of their suffrages, raise the prices of
their holy ground to their unreasonable advan-
tages. But to speak freely, what I think con-
cerning this so common practice, I must need
say, I cannot but hold it very unfit and incon-
venient, both, first in respect of the majesty,
it is the Lord's House, the palace of the King
of Heaven; and what prince would have his
court made a charnel-house? How well so-
ever we loved our deceased friends, yet when
their life is dissolved, there is none of us but
would be loath to have their corpses inmates
with us in our houses; and why should we
think fit to offer that to God's house which
we should be loath to endure in our own.—
Secondly, in regard of the annoyance of the
the living; for the air (kept close within walls)
arising from dead bodies, must needs be offen-
sive, as we find by daily experience, more
offensive now than of old to God's people:
they buried with odours, the fragrancy where-
of was a good antidote for this inconvenience;
" (she did this to bury me," saith our Saviour).
Not so with us ; so as the air receives no other

BURYING IN CHURCHES. 103

tincture than what arises from the evaporation
of corrupted bodies. But though I approve
not common buryings within the church, as
not deeming that a fit bestowage for the dead ;
yet forasmuch as the church is a place of most
public resort and use, I cannot mislike that
in some meet parts, whether floors, or pillars,
or walls, (especially of the side chapels pertain-
ing thereto) there be memorials or monuments
of worthy and well deserving Christians, where-
by their knowledge and precious remembrances
may be perpetuated to posterity ."

Thus far the worthy Bishop, on this indecent
and unwholesome practice: to which I shall
only add (observes the writer) a quotation from
Mr. Strutt, who informs us, " that before the
time of Christianity, it was held unlawful to
bury the dead within the cities, but they used
to carry them out into the fields hard by, and
there deposit them. Towards the end of the
sixth century, Augustine obtained of king
Ethelbert, a temple of idols, (where the king
used to worship before his conversion) and
made a burying place of it ; but St Cuthbert
f 4

104 OBSERVATIONS ON

afterwards obtained leave to ' have yards made
to the churches, proper for the reception of the
dead."

At a funeral in St Mary's church, at MonU
2?e!lier, a porter happened to tumble into the
vault, where several corpses had been deposited;
and, not returning again, his brother, >yho per-
ceived that his candle had gone out, went down
to help him up, but neither did he return, nor
made the least outcry ; a third did the like,
without uttering a syllable ; at length a fourth,
perceiving they were all in the dark, ventured
to be let down by a rope, with a light in his
hand, to see what was the matter. This man
finding himself attacked with a noisome vapour,
when he was half way down, begged to be drawn
up again, and upon being let blood, recovered.
The other three were hawled out with Hooks
fixed to the ends of poles, having no remains of
life. The sexton affirmed that something of the
like nature had formerly happened in another
vault. These dead men were in a manner
covered over with a wet mud, whose stench was

BURYING IN CHURCHES. 105

such, that nobody cared to touch them. A few
days after, (says Mr. de Sauvage, the writer of
this account) I went to the place, and by a
line let down cats of different ages, birds and
dogs, about seven feet deep into the vault.
The young cats died convuled, in a|>out three
minutes ; the old ones in half a minute, or less.
Lighted flambeaus went out before they were
well under the surface of the ground, as though
they had been dipped in water.

In order to examine (observes this gentleman)
into the nature of this vapour, I drew some of
it up from the bottom of the vault, in a glass
bucket, as if it had been water ; candles were
extinguished, and birds suffocated in it in an
instant. If any of it was conveyed into a phial,
an exhalation issued out of the orifice, to which
a candle being applied, it was not extinguished ;
but if introduced within the mouth, went out
immediately. It was considerably heavier hant
air, for if the phial was inclined, the vapour
yielded to the position, and laid horizontally ;
and if the vapour was poured into another

106 OBSERVATIONS ON

phial, to whose bottom a bit of lighted wax
candle was fixed, it put it out as soon as it
arose as high as the flame. This vapour, after
having been kept in phials, well stopped, for
several months, retained its poisonous quality
as strong as at first. Is not this a proof of the
pemiciousness of burying vaults in churches,
and do not many popular diseases very proba-
bly arise from this filthy custom?

THE

FATAL CONSEQUENCES

Of opening

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON.

THE people of Challons upon the Marne,
in France, having resolved some years since,
to enlarge the yard or square before their town
house, by adding to it a part of St. Alpin's
church-yard, and for that purpose, to remove
all the bodies lately buried there, were diverted
from the execution of their design, by a disser-
tation wrote by M. Navier, a physician and
member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at
Paris, for shewing the dangerous consequences
of opening graves before the bodies are quite
dissolved; and as such practices are too fre-
quent in this country, it may be of service to
f 5

108 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

lay before the public an abstract of what this
celebrated physician has said upon the sub-
ject.

The doctor divides his dissertation into two
parts, in the first of which he describes the
several degrees of corruption which a dead
body successively undergoes, and which bring
it at last to a total dissolution. From these
principles he concludes, that the terrible mix-
ture which results from putrefaction, by raising
itself in the form of infectious exhalations, may
penetrate even to the inside of the tender and
delicate organs of living bodies, and may infal-
libly occasion their destruction. These exha-
lations will convey themselves, more or less,
into all those who happen to be within their
atmosphere ; and our fluids being once impreg-
nated with these virulent particles, cannot, with-
out difficulty, disentangle themselves, so that
notwithstanding the redoubled efforts of na-
ture, to free itself from the grasp of such a
ormidable enemy, multitudes must succumb.
The misfortune resulting from hence, may not
confine itself to that short space of time, during

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. 109

which the air continues infected ; for a part of
these corrupting impurities which have passed
themselves into living bodies, may continue
there for a long time, and may be communi-
cated to others, or may lie concealed, even for
a considerable time, before they begin to exert
their virulence.

This poison, the doctor observes, may con-
vey itself into living bodies by more ways than
one; for example, through the pores of the
skin, along with the breath we draw, along
with our food of any kind, &c. And to prove
that dead bodies must lie a long time buried,
in order to give time to the corrupted particles
with which the surrounding earth is impreg-
nated, to dissipate themselves, or to be entirely
converted into the first elements of matter, he
mentions, first, an interment of several bodies
in a church-yard of Challons, in the year 1724,
which, though they had been four years under
ground, were nevertheless very far from being
near consumed, and which still emitted such an
infectious stench, that the people could hardly
bear it, notwithstanding the great quantity of

110 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

incense they kept burning. Secondly, he men-
tions the report of several grave-diggers, all of
whom declared, from experience, that it was
dangerous to open tombs in less than four
years; and that, by moisture or rain, dead
bodies were kept from being consumed. And,
Thirdly, he mentions a fact, of which he him-
self was a witness. A grave-digger, in digging
a grave, shewed him the skeletons of three
bodies which had been buried one above ano-
ther, every one of which had some of the hair
and some of the entrails remaining, and some-
thing of a fleshy substance upon the bones,
though the lowermost had been twenty, the
second eleven, and the third eight years under
ground.

In the second part, the doctor proposes the
methods he thinks most proper for guarding
those who are exposed to the bad air of inter-
ments, from this almost inevitable contagion.
He advises the putting them off as long as pos-
sible, as being the most certain : but when ex-
treme necessity will admit of no delay, he pro-
poses these precautions: The first, and most

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. Ill

essential, consists in making a number of small
trenches in the church-yard, then filling them
with unslacked lime, and taking care to pour
upon it a large quantity of water ; for the water
being impregnated with the ignious, and ab-
sorbing particles of the lime, penetrates the
earth, and the remains of the interred bodies,
and thereby destroys, in whole, or in part, the
corrupting impurities. This operation he ad-
vises to renew, more or less, often, in propor-
tion to the number and condition of the bodies
buried in the ground. The second precaution
is, to chuse for the removal the coldest time of
the year, and when the north winds prevail
most ; and the third, is to make great fires
round the church-yard, to fire cannon, or some
other instrument charged with fulminating pow-
der, at least three or four times a day. These
last methods, says he, have the property of
correcting, and effectually destroying the pu-
trid exhalations with which the air may still
remain impregnated, and of accelerating the
currents of air, &c.

112 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

The custom of burying in churches, and of de-
positing the bones of dead bodies in charnel houses^
gives M. Navier occasion to make observations
upon this two fold abuse ; and in a second
dissertation, which is a sort of appendix to the
first, he, with great reason, declares against bury-
ing in churches, which is too frequently per-
mitted under the specious pretext of raising
thereby a revenue for the support of the
fabrick. He observes, that this custom of
burying in churches was never allowed before
the ninth century ; and that ever since it has
been allowed, it has, from time to time, pro-
duced unfortunate consequences ; several of
which he relates, both ancient and modern,
that have happened at Chalons, at Montpelier,
at Paris, and in foreign countries. As the
earth which is thrown up hy digging new
graves, is impregnated with a great quantity
of corrupt particles, conveyed into it, by the
bodies before interred therein. It is not at
all surprising, says he, that such unlucky
effects should ensue ; for if the bodies of dead
animals left in the open air, often occasion
contagious diseases, though the free air to

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. 113

which they are exposed is continually carrying
off, and, as it were, sweeping away those
putrid impurities which arise from dead bodies,
by degrees, as they become corrupted, what
have we not to fear from churches where great
numbers of people are interred ? It is these
poisoned particles, he adds, with which the
earth is impregnated, that has caused the death
of great numbers of grave diggers, even upon
their opening ground where no vestige of any
dead body was to be found ; and it is for this
reason, that they are generally obliged to dig
a grave at several intervals ; for if you ask
them why, they will tell you, that they feel
themselves, as it were suffocated ; if they
continue at it for any long time ; and their
breathing in these infected vapours, is what
makes such men generally but short lived.

According to M. Navier, the most effectual
remedy for this abuse, would be, not to permit
any, or but very few persons to be buried in
churches; and when it is allowed, to slack a
large quantity of lime upon the body, there
being no more certain method for destroying

114 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

it speedily, and as one may say, before it can
pass through any one degree of corruption.

But, as in spite of all these precautions, the
air in churches may often be a little vitiated,
M. Navier, proposes a very easy method for
restoring it to its natural purity, which, is to
take out, in the day time, some of the upper
panes of the glass windows, near the vaults ;
which little openings cannot render the church
too cold, and at the same time will make a free
communication between the external and inter-
nal air.

And as to charnel houses, he tells us, that he
has often visited them in the several places
where he has happened to reside, and that
among the bones he has always found some
that had still a sort of corrupted fleshy sub-
stance upon them. Ought not, says he, such
an abuse to be prevented : ought it not to be
forbid under pain of exemplary punishment,
to expose the bones of dead bodies to the opeli
air, which must always be corrupted by their
unwholesome exhalations, even when they have

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. 115

nothing of this fleshy substance upon them;
for we cannot be too watchful in preserving
the air in its utmost purity, since upon it
depends the life, and health of man. There-
fore he concludes, that all charnel houses
ought to be suppressed, as they appear to him
to be more hurtful than useful ; and that all
grave-diggers ought to be strictly enjoined to
collect carefully all the bones thrown up in
digging a grave, in order to be again thrown
into it, and well covered with earth.

'W'WVWl-WWlW

Further corroboration of the aforesaid
subject.

In the month of September, 1784, a poor
woman died in the Hospital at Aberdeen, and
was buried in a church yard in the neighbour-
hood. A company of young Surgeons, agreed
with the grave digger, to set some mark on the
grave, as a direction for them to find the body
for anatomical purposes ; but some person in

116 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

order to disappoint the grave-diggers employers,
moved the signal to another grave, that of a
woman who had been buried about three or
four months. The party came, and directed
by the mark agreed upon, dug up the grave,
drew out the coffin, and carried it home.
But upon opening it, a vapour like flame of
brimstone came forth, and suffocated them in
an instant. Two women also going past the
room, fell down dead, and it was said, that
eleven persons thus perished from the baneful
effluvia.

It is very common, observes Doctor Buchan,
in this country, to have church-yards in the
middle of populous cities. Whether this be
the effect of ancient superstition, or owing to
the increase of such towns, is a matter of no
consequence. Whatever gave rise to the cus-
tom, it is a bad one. It is habit alone which
reconciles us to these things; by means of
which the most ridiculous, nay pernicious cus-
toms, often become sacred. Certain it is, that
thousands of putrid carcases, so near the
surface of the earth, in a place where the air

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. 117

is confined, cannot fail to taint it; and that
such air when breathed into the lungs, must
occasion diseases.

In most Eastern countries it was customary
to bury the dead at some distance from any
town. As this practice obtained sanction
among the Jews, the Greeks, and also the
Romans, it is strange that the Western
parts of Europe should not have followed
their example in a custom so truly laud-
able.

Burying in churches is still more detest-
able. The air in churches is seldom good,
and the effluvia from putrid carcases must
render it still worse. Churches are commonly
old buildings with arched roofs. They are
seldom open above once a week, are never
ventilated by fires, nor open windows, and
rarely kept clean. This occasions that damp,
musty, unwholesome smell which one feels
upon entering a church, and renders it a very
unsafe place for the weak and valetudinary.
These inconveniences might in a great mea-

118 CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING

sure, be obviated, by prohibiting all persons
from burying within churches, by keeping them
clean, and permitting a stream of fresh air to
pass frequently through them, by opening
opposite doors and windows.

The practice of burying the dead, says the
doctor, in the centre of populous neighbour-
hoods, is still too generally continued. Churches
and church-yards are made the chief places of
interment, in direct opposition to reason, and
to the example of the most enlightened people
of antiquity. The first words of the old Ro-
man inscriptions on tomb stones, " Siste viator"
Stop, traveller, shew that the dead were buried
by the side of public roads, not in temples, nor in
the heart of towns and cities. One of the laws
of the late Joseph II. relative to this point,
will do him immortal honour. After strictly
prohibiting the interment of dead bodies in any
church or chapel. " It is horrid," says the
Emperor, " that a place of worship, a temple
of the Supreme Being, should be converted
into a pest-house for living creatures ! a person
who, upon his death-bed, makes it a condition

TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON. 119

of his will to be buried in a church or chapel,
acts like a madman : he ought to set his fellow-
creatures a good example, and not to do all in
his power to destroy their constitutions, by ex
posing them to the effluvia arising from a
corpse in a state of putrefaction."

The admirable sentiment expressed by one
of our own country-women, who died a few
years since, afford a striking contrast with the
superstitious folly so justly stigmatized by the
Emperor.

This extraordinary female, whose mind was
superior to the weakness of her sex, and to the
prejudices of custom, being fully sensible, as
she herself expressed it in her last will, w that
the bodies of the dead might be offensive to
the living," ordered her body to be burnt, and
the ashes deposited in an urn, in the burying
ground of St. Georges, Hanover-Square, where
the remains of the sentimental Yorrick, are
also interred.

120 CDNSEQUENCES OF OPENING'

To prevent the dreadful contagion in future,
that might otherwise arise from thoughtless and
wicked people, prematurely stealing dead
bodies from their graves, the following easy
method of securing the same^ is strongly re-
commended as an effectual preventative.

As soon as the corpse is deposited, let a truss
of long wheaten straw be opened, and distri-
buted in the grave in layers, as equally as may
be, with every layer of earth, till the whole is
filled up. By this method the corpse will be
effectually secured, as may be found by expe-
rience ; for it is certain that the longest night
will not afford time sufficient to empty the
grave, though all the common implements of
grave-digging be made use of for the abomi-
nable purpose.

ACCOUNT

OF

REMARKABLE TOMBS,

AND EVEK-BURNING

LAMP 3 OF THE ANCIENTS.

vwwtv^ww

Among the papers of Dr. Parsons, in the
Bodleian Library, is the following very
extraordinary story. It is dated 1685.

In a piece of ground within two miles of
Cirencester, in the county of Gloucester, com-
monly known by the name of Colton's Field,
as two labourers were digging a gravel pit at
the foot of a hill, which they had now sunk
four yards deep, they observed the ground
on that side next the hill to be loose, and pre-
sently discovered an entrance into the belly

122 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

of the hill, which appearing very strange to
them, and rather the work of art than nature,
one of them ventured a little way in, and by
the light from the hole, discovered a large
cavity; whereupon they got a lanthorn and
candle to make a further search into it. By
the advantage of this light, the first place they
entered, appeared to have been a hall, which
was large, and in it two tables with benches
on each side, which they no sooner touched,
to feel their substance, but they crumbled
into dust. From thence they saw a passage
into another room, which, by the furniture,
had been a kitchen. Several utensils proper
to it, as pots, kettles, &c. being of brass or iron,
continued somewhat firm, but eaten through
with rust and canker.

Beyond the hall, they went into a parlour
furnished, according to the fashion of those
times, with carpets richly wrought, and other
furniture agreeable: these also fell to pieces
upon their touching them. At one corner
of the room, there appeared to have been a
pair of stairs ; but the earth had fallen in, and

EVEll-BUIlNING LAMPS,. 1&3

stopt the ascent. Going back into the hall,
they observed another opening, which led
them into a square room, ornamented with
carved work in several parts, supposed to have
been a place of worship and devotion, by
images in the wall; and at the upper end of
it, they found several urns, some of which
had only ashes in them, others were filled
with coins and medals, of gold, silver, and brass,
with Latin inscriptions, and heads of several
Roman Emperors.

As they went searching about this room,
they spied a door, which had been strongly
patched with iron, but the wood being rotten,
with a little force it fell in pieces; and looking
in, to their great astonishment, they saw the
image of a man in full proportion, with a
truncheon in his hand, and a light, in a glass
like a lamp, burning before him. This very
much afrrightened them at first, imagining it
to be a devil in that shape, or a guardian spirit
set there to defend some hidden treasure; the
hopes whereof so far encouraged them at last,
that one of them ventured a step in, but upon
g 2

124 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

his first descent, the image seemed to strike at
him; at which they were both so terrified, that
they durst proceed no further; but went back,
and taking many of the medals and coins with
them, out of the urns, at night acquainted a
gentleman, who is a famous antiquary, with
the discovery they had made, what they had
seen, and the money they had found; shewing
him several pieces ; upon which he ordered
them to keep the matter private; promising to
go with them the next morning, which he
accordingly did.

After he had viewed the other rooms with
wonder and delight, they conducted him to the
place where the image was, which he supposed
might, by some great artist, be made to strike
at certain times; therefore without any appre-
hension of danger, went in ; and, as before,
upon his first step, the image made an offer to
strike; so at the second step, but with a grea-
ter force: at the third step, it struck a violent
blow on the glass, where the light was, which
broke it in pieces, and quite extinguished it
(the light) that, had they not been furnished

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 125

with a lanthorn and candle, their condition
would have been desperate. The image ap-
peared to have been the effigy of some Roman
General, by those ensigns of martial honour
which lay at his feet. On the left hand lay
two heads embalmed. The flesh was shrivel-
led up, and looked like parchment scorched,
of a dark complexion. They had long hair
on the chin; one seemed to be red, and the
other black.

Upon further search were found several
other passages leading to other houses, or
different rooms of the same house ; but a
hollow voice, like a deep sigh or groan, prevent-
ed any other discovery. Our adventurers
hastily quitted those dark apartments, which
they had no sooner done, than the hill sunk
down, and buried all the rarities, except those
medals and coins taken out the night before,
which are now shewn for the satisfaction of
the curious and ingenious, who in great num-
bers flock to see them, and purchase them
at great rates, as most valuable relics of an
tiquity.

g &

126 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

°wvfc-w*.-vww

Kommanus tells us, that in Valentia, a city
of Spain, there was found the body of Adoni-
zam, the servant of King Solomon, together
with his epitaph in Hebrew. It appeared,
that he had laid buried above two thousand
years, yet was he found uncorrupted : so
excellent a way of embalming the dead were
those skilled in, who lived in the Eastern
Countries.

He also mentions the body of Cleopatra,
which had remained undamaged for an hun-
dred and twenty-five Olympiads, viz. five
hundred years, as appears by the letter of
Heraclius the Emperor to Sophocles the phi-
losopher.

I remember not, continues Kommanus, to
have read any thing like this amongst the
Romans, unless of the body, as some say of
Tulliola?, the daughter of Cicero, which was
found entire and uncorrupted (as some have

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 1&7

computed) one thousand and five hundred
years, the particulars of which are described as
follows from Houghton's collections, volume
the c2nd, page 346.

In the papacy of Paul the Third, in the
Appian way, where abundance of the chief
Heathens of old were laid, a sepulchre was
opened; where was found the entire body of
a fair virgin swimming in a wonderful juice
which kept it from putrefaction so well, that
the face seemed no way damnified, but lively
and handsome. Her hairs were yellow, tied
up artificially, and kept together with a golden
circle or ring. Under her feet burnt lamps,
which vanished at the opening of the Sepulchre.
By some inscriptions it seems she had lain 1500
years. Who she was is not known, although
many thought her to be Tullioloe^ the daughter
of Cicero.

e 4

128 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

<»/Vk'Wk'»-».-W -\ -v

Cedrenus makes mention of a lamp, which
(together with, an image of Christ) was found
at Edessa, in the reign of Justinian the Em-
peror. It was set over a certain gate there,
and privily enclosed, as appeared by the date
of it, soon after Christ was crucified: it was
found burning (as it had done for five hundred
years before) by the soldiers of Cosroes, king
of Persia, by whom also the oil was taken out
and cast into the fire; which occasioned such
a plague, as brought death upon almost all the
forces of Cosroes.

■w-wwvww*

At the demolition of our monasteries here
in England, there was found in the supposed
monument of Constantius Chlorus (father to
the great Constantine,) a burning lamp which
was thought to have continued burning there
ever since his burial, which is about three
hundred years after Christ. The ancient

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 129

Romans used in that manner to preserve lights
in their Sepulchres a long time, by the oil of
gold, resolved by art into a liquid substance.

Baptista porta, in his treatise on Natural
Magic, relates, that about the year 1550, in
the island Nesis in Naples, a marble sepulchre,
of a certain Roman was discovered, upon the
opening of which, a phial was found containing
a burning lamp. This lamp became extinct
on breaking the phial, and exposing the light
to the open air. It appeared that this lamp
had been concealed before the advent of Christ.
Those who saw the lamp reported, that it
emitted a most splendid flame.

The most celebrated lamp of Pallas, the
son of Evander, who was killed by Turnis, as
Virgil relates in the tenth book of his iEneid,
was discovered not far from Rome, in the
year 1401, by a countryman, who digging
g 5

130 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

deeper than usual, observed a stone sepulchre,
containing the body of a man of extraordinary
size, which was as entire as if recently interred,
and which had a large wound in the breast.
Above the head of the deceased, there was
found a lamp burning with perpetual fire,
which neither wind nor water, nor any other
superinduced liquor could extinguish: but the
lamp being bored at the bottom, and broke
by the importunate enemies of this won-
derful light, the flame immediately vanished.
That this was the body of Pallas, is evident
from the inscription on the tomb, which was
as follows :

Pallas, Evander's son, whom Turnis, spear
In battle slew, of mighty bulk, lies here.

A very remarkable lamp was discovered
about the year 1500, near Atestes, a town
belonging to Padua, in Italy, by a rustic, who
digging deeper than usual^ found an earthen

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 131

urn, containing another urn, in which last, was
a lamp placed between two cylindrical vessels,
one of gold, and the other of silver, and ea«h
of which was full of a very pure liquor, by
whose virtue it is probable, the lamp had con-
tinued to shine for upwards of 1500 years,
and, unless it had been exposed to the air,
might have continued its wonderful light for
a still greater period of time. This curious
lamp was the workmanship of one Maximus
Olybius, who most probably effected this won-
der, by a profound skill in the chymical
art. On the greater, urn, some verses were
inscribed in Latin, which may be translated
as follows :

PlundVers, forbear this gift to touch,

'Tis awful Pluto's own :
A secret rare the world conceals,

To such as you unknown,

132 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AXD

2.

Olybius in this slender vase
The elements has chain'd;

Digested with laborious art,
From secret science gain'd.

3,

With guardian care two copious urns

The costly juice confine,
Lest, thro' the ruins of decay,

The lamp should cease to shine.

On the lesser urn were the following verses,

Plund'rers with prying eyes, away !
What mean ye by this curious stay ?
Hence with your cunning, patron god,
With bonnet wing'd, and magic rod !
Sacred alone to Pluto's name,
This mighty work of endless fame.

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 133

Saint Austin mentions a lamp that was
found in a temple, dedicated to Venus, which
was always exposed to the open weather, and
could never be consumed or extinguished.
And Ludovicus Vives, his commentator, men-
tions another lamp which was found a little
before his time, that had continued burning
for one thousand and fifty years.

It is supposed, that the perpetuity of these
lamps, was owing to the consummate tenacity of
the unctuous matter with which the flame was
united, being so proportioned to the strength of
the fire, that, like the radical moisture and na-
tural heat in animals, neither of them could con-
quer or destroy the other. Licetus, who is of this
opinion, observes, that in order to preserve this
equality of proportion, the ancients hid these
lamps in caverns, or close monuments: and
hence it has happened, that on opening these
tombs, the admission of fresh air to the lamps

134; REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

has produced so great an inequality between
the flame and the oil, that they have been pre-
sently extinguished.

^v^^^vvvw^-vw

Mr. Addison in his Spectator, relates the
following story of the lamp of Rosicru-

cius.

" A certain person having occasion to dig
somewhat deep in the ground, where the philo-
sopher Rosicrucius lay interred, met with a
small door, having a wall on each side of it.
His curiosity, and the hopes of finding some
hidden treasure, soon prompted him to force
open the door. He was immediately surprised
by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered a
very fair vault : at the upper end of it was a
statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table,
and leaning on his left arm. He held a trun-
cheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burn-
ing before him1. The man had no sooner set
one foot within the vault, than the statue
erected itself from its leaning posture, stood

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 135

bolt upright, and upon the fellow's advancing
another step, lifted up the truncheon in his
right hand. The man still ventured a third
step, when the statue with a furious blow broke
the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his
guest in a sudden darkness."

Upon the report of this adventure, the
country people soon came with lights to the
sepulchre, and discovered that the statue,
which was made of Brass, was nothing more
than a piece of clock work ; that the floor of
the vault was all loose, and underlaid with
several springs, which, upon any man's enter-
ing, naturally produced that which had hap-
pened.

Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of
this method, to shew the world that he had re-
invented the ever-burning lamps of the Ancients,
tho' he was resolved no one should reap any
advantage from the discovery.*

* Note. — Mr. Addison seems to have borrowed this
story from the one related by Dr. Parsons. Vide p. 121.

136 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

In the tenth year of Henry II. at the dig-
ging of a new foundation in the church of St.
Mary-Hill, in London, there was found and
taken up the body of Alice Hackney, she had
been buried in that church a hundred and
seventy-five years before, yet was she there
found whole of skin, and the joints of her
arms pliable ; her corpse was kept above
ground four days ; without any inconvenience,
exposed to the view of as many as would
behold it, and then re-committed to the
earth.

Baker's Chronicle.

■w-v-v-w* -w-v-v -v

In the reign of King James, at Astley in
Warwickshire, upon the fall of the church,
there was taken up the corpse of Thomas
Grey, Marquis of Dorset, who was there
buried the 10th of October, 1530, in the twenty
second year of King Henry VIII, and although

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 137

it had been lain seventy eight years, in this
bed of corruption, yet his eyes, hair, flesh,
nails, and joints, remained as if he had been
but newly buried.

■vv\^wwvww

In the year 1554, there was found in Rome
a coffin of marble, eight feet long, and in it a
robe, embroidered with Goldsmith's work,
which yielded six and thirty pounds weight of
gold ; besides forty rings, a cluster of emeralds,
a little mouse, made of another precious stone,
and amongst all these precious magnificences,
two leg bones of a dead corpse, known by the
inscription of the tomb to be the bones of the
Empress Mary, daughter of Stilicoe, and wife
of the Emperor Honorius.

■V%-V"V%'WWW».

Robert Braybrqok, born at a village in
Northamptonshire, was consecrated Bishop of
London, January, 5th, 1381. He was after
that Chancellor of England for six months.

138 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

He died, anno. 1404, and was buried under a
marble stone, in the chapel of St. Mary, in the
Cathedral of St. Paul's, London. Yet was
the body of this Bishop lately taken up, and
found firm, as to skin, hair, joints, nails, &c.
For upon that fierce and fatal fire in London*
September, 2nd, 1666, which burnt so much
of St. Paul's church, when part of the floor
fell into St. Faith's, this dead person was
shaken out of his dormitory, where he had
kin no less than two hundred and sixty two
years. His body was exposed to the view of
of all sorts of people for divers days; and
some thousands did behold and poise it in
their arms, till by special order it was re-
interred.

Fuller's Worthies.

In the Reign of King Henry II. anno, 1089»
the bones of King Arthur, and his wife Gue-
nevor were found in the vale of Avalon,
under an hollow oak, fifteen feet under

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 139

ground, the hair of the said Guenevor being
then whole and fresh, of a yellow colour ; but
as soon as it was touched, it fell to powder,
as Fabian relateth: this was more than six
hundred years after his death. His shin bone,
set by the leg of a tall man, reached above
his knee the breadth of three fingers.

Bakers Chronicle.

The body of Albertus Magnus was taken
out of his sepulchre, to be re-interred in the
midst of the chancel in a new tomb for that
purpose, it was two hundred years from the
time wherein he had been first buried ; yet was
he found entire without any kind of deforma.
tion, unless it was this (says a celebrated histo-
rian) that his jaw seemed to be somewhat
fallen.

140 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

Mr. Brydone in his travels, speaking of a
Sicilian Convent, says, the famous convent of
Capuchins, about a mile without the city of
Palermo, contains notlring very remarkable
but the burial place, which is indeed a great
curiosity. This is a vast subterraneous apart-
ment, divided into large commodious galleries,
the walls on each side of which are hollowed
out into a variety of niches, as if intended for
a great collection of statues. These niches,
instead of statues, are filled with dead bodies
set upright upon their legs, and fixed by the
back to the inside of the niche. Their number
is about three hundred. They are all dressed
in the clothes they usually wore, and form a
most respectful and venerable assembly. The
skin and muscles, by a certain preparation,
become as dry and hard as a piece of stock
fish: and although many of them have been
here upwards of two hundred and fifty years,
yet none are reduced to skeletons. The mus-
cles indeed, in some, appear to be a good deal

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 141

more shrunk in some than in others ; probably
because these persons had been more extenuat-
ed at the time of their death. Here the
people of Palermo pay daily visits to their
deceased friends, and recall with pleasure and
regret, the scenes of their past life. Here they
familiarize themselves with their future state,
and choose the company they would wish to
keep in the other world. It is a common
thing to make choice of their niche, and to
try if the body fits it, that no alterations may
be necessary after they are dead ; and some-
times by way of a voluntary penance, they
accustom themselves to stand for hours in these
niches. The bodies of the princes and first
nobility, are lodged in handsome chests, or
trunks ; some of them richly adorned. These
are not in the shape of coffins, but all of one
width, and about a foot and a half or two feet
deep. The keys are kept by the nearest
relations of the family, who sometimes come
and drop a tear over their departed friends.
Some of the Capuchins sleep in these galleries
every night, and pretend to have many won-

142 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

derful visions and revelations ; but the truth
is, that very few people believe them.

In the philosophical transactions, we find
the following account of a body found in a
vault, in the church of Staverton, in Devon-
shire, by Mr. Tripe, Surgeon at Ashburton,in
a letter to Doctor Huxham, dated June, 28th,
1750. There having been a great diversity of
reports, says the writer, relating to a body lately
discovered in a vault in Staverton church, I
have taken the liberty of communicating to
you the following particulars. As it does not
appear by the register of the burials, that any
person has been deposited in this vault since
October, 5th, 1669, it is certain that the body
has lain there upwards of four score years; yet,
when the vault was opened, about four months
ago, it was found as perfect in all its parts, as
if but just interred. The whole body was
plump and full, the skin white, soft, smooth,

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 148

and elastic; the hair strong, and the limbs
nearly as flexible as when living.

A winding sheet, which was as firm as if
just applied, enclosed it from head to foot, and
two coarse cloths dipped in a blackish sub-
stance, like pitch, infolding the winding sheet.
The body, thus protected, was placed in an
oaken coffin, on which, as it was always cover-
ed with water, was found a large stone, and
a log of wood, probably to keep it at the
bottom.

Various have been the conjectures as to the
cause of its preservation ; and it has been
reported, though probably without foundation,
that the person was a Roman Catholic ; there
have been some of that religion, who not hav-
ing philosophy enough to account for it from
natural causes, have attributed it to a super-
natural one, and canonized him : and, in con-
sequence of this, have taken away several
pieces of the winding sheet and pitch clothes,
preserving them as relics with the greatest
veneration.

144 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

In my opinion, says Mr. Tripe, the pitch
clothes and water overthrow the miracle, and
bring it within the power of natural agents ;
from the former by defending the body from
the external air; and the latter by preserving
the tenacity of the pitch.

In the year 1448, in the ruins of an old
wall of the beautiful church at Dunfermling in
Scotland, there was found the body of a young
man, in a coffin of lead, wrapped up in silk :
it preserved the natural colour, and was not
in the least manner corrupted ; though it
was believed- to be the body of the son of
King Malcolm the Third, by the Lady Mar-
garet.

EyEJt-BUltNlNG LAMPS. Ho

In the year 1764, the following interesting-
account appeared in an Italian paper.

" Letters from Rome say, that they have
removed to the Clementinian College there,
some antiquities which were discovered in a
vineyard near the church de St. Cesair, situat-
ed on the Appian way, not far from the ruins
of the baths of the Emperor Caracalla. The
workmen who laboured in the vineyard, struck
against a thick vault, which they broke
through with great difficulty. In this vault
they found four urns of white marble, adorned
with bass-reliefs, the subject of which left no
room to doubt of their being sepulchral urns.
Under this vault they perceived another,
which being broke through, discovered two
magnificent oval basons, the one of a black
colour, mixed with veins of the Lapis Calcedo-
nius ; its greatest diameter, was about six feet
and a half, the least, three feet, and two feet

H

146 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

deep. This bason contained a human body.
The second bason was of a greenish colour, of
the same dimensions with the other, except
its being but a foot and a half deep. This
was covered with white marble, and contained
the body of a woman very richly cloathed;
but it was hardly opened, before the body and
its attire fell wholly into powder ; from which
was recovered eight ounces of pure gold.
In the same place was fomid a small statue of
Pallas, in white marble; the work of which is
highly esteemed."

Alexander Guavnerius, speaking of the
old and great city of Kiovia, near De Borys-
thenes, " There are," saith he, « certain subter-
raneous caverns extended to a great length and
breadth within ground : here are divers ancient
sepulchres, and the bodies of certain illustrious
Russians; these, though they have lain there
time out of mind, yet do they appear entire.
There are the bodies of two princes in their

EVEil-]3Uli,NlNG LAMPS. 147

own country habits, as they used to walk when
alive, and these are so fresh and whole, as if
they had but newly lain there. They lie in a
cave unburied, and by the Russian Monks are
shewn to strangers.

Some years since, at the repairs of the
church of St. Coecilia, beyond the river Tiber,
there was found the body of a certain Car-
dinal, an Englishman, who had been buried
there three hundred years before ; yet was it
every way entire, not the least part of it
perished, as they report, who both saw and
bandied it.

Ax the time Constantine reigned with

Irene his mother, there was found in an

ancient sepulchre in Constantinople, a body

with a plate of gold upon the breast of it,

h %

148 REMARKABLE TOMBS, AND

and thereon thus engraven. ±—In Christum
credoqui ex Maria Virgine nescetor : 0 Sol,
imperantibus Constantino fy Irene interrem
me videbus : that is, / believe in that Christ
who shall be born of Mary a Virgin : O Sun
thou shall see me again* when Constantine and
Irene shall come to rei^n. — When this inscrip-
tion had been publicly read, the body was
restored to the same place where it had been
formerly buried.

The sepulchre of the great Cyrus, king
of Persia, was violated in the days of Alexan-
der the Great, in such a manner, that his bones
were displaced and thrown out, and the urn of
gold that was fixed in his coffin, when it could
not be wholly pulled away, was broken off by
parcels. When Alexander was informed here-
of, he caused the Magi, who were intrusted
with the care and keeping thereof, to be exposed
unto tortures, to make them confess the authors
of so great a violation and robbery : but they

EVER-BURNING LAMPS. 149

denied with great constancy that they had any
hand in it, or that they knew by whom it was
done. Plutarch says, that it was one Polyma-
chus, a noble Pellean, that was guilty of so
great a crime. It is said, that the epitaph of
this mighty monarch was to this purpose.

O mortal that contest hither (for come I
know thou wilt) Mow that I am Cyrus the
son of Cambyses, who settled the Persian Em-
pire, and ruled over Asia, and therefore envy
me not this little heap of earth, where-with my
body is covered.

^»*^%^W»^'V%i

Not Jong since, at Bononiae, in the church
of St. Dominick, there was found the body of
Alexander Tartagnus, a Lawyer at Imola,
which was perfectly entire, and no way decay-
ed, although it had lain there from his decease
above one hundred and fifty years.

H 3

150 REMARKABLE TOMBS, &C.

Pausanius makes mention of a soldier,
whose body was found with wounds fresh, and
apparent upon it, although it had been buried
sixty two Olympiads, that is no less than two
hundred and forty eight years.

METHODS

EMBALMING.

v •v^^-%--v*-s-».-v-»^.

THE ancient Egyptians had three ways
of embalming their dead, and artists were
particularly trained up for that purpose :
the most costly method was practised only
upon persons of high rank, of which sort are
all the mummies that have remained entire to
the present times: it was done by extracting
the brains through the nostrils, and injecting a
rich balm in their stead, then opening the
belly and taking out the intestines, the cavity
was washed with palm wine impregnated with
spices, and filled with myrrh and other aroma-
tics ; this done, the body was laid in nitre
seventy days, at the end of which, it was
h 4

152 METHODS OF EMBALMING.

taken out, cleansed, and swathed with fine
linen, gummed and ornamented with various
hieroglyphics, expressive of the deceased's
birth, character, and rank. This process
completed, the embalmer carried home the
body, where it was placed in a coffin, cut in
human shape, and then enclosed in an outer
case, and placed upright against the wall
of the burying place belonging to the fa-
mily.

Another less expensive method of embalm-
ing was, by injecting into all the cavities of the
body, a certain dissolvent; which being suf-
fered to run off after a proper time, carried
with it whatever was contained therein liqui-
fied; and then the body, thus purged, being
dried by the nitrous process as before, the ope-
ration was closed by swathing, &c. By the
third and lowest method of embalming, which
was only in use among the poor, they drenched
the body with injections, and then dried it with
nitre.

The Egyptians had a custom among them
of pledging the dead bodies of their parents

METHODS OF EMBALMING. 153

and kindred, as a security for the payment of
their debts, and whoever neglected to redeem
them was held in the utmost abhorrence, and
denied the rights of burial themselves.

They paid extravagant honours to their
deceased ancestors : and there are at this day
to be seen in Egypt pompous subterranean
edifices, called by the Greeks Hypogees, re-
presenting towns or habitations under ground,
in which there are streets or passages of com-
munication from one to another, that the
dead might have as free intercourse as when
alive.

finis.

INDEX

A.

Page.

Athens, Law there to prevent premature inter-
ment 3

Asia, Dead bodies kept there several days before

burial • ™

Abbe* Provost, remarkable circumstance attend-
ing «••••• 24

Ackland, Sir Hugh, and his Brandy footman.

Story of «. 28

Acilius Aviola, burnt to death, for want of being

first examined 60

Armenius Eras, returns to life, after being appa-
rently dead 69

Alexander, Dr, Story related by,,.,,. ,. 69

INDEX.

Page.

Aberdeen, remarkable affair happened there 115

Ancients, remarkable Tombs and Lamps of 121

Atestes, a Town in Italy, Lamp found there that

had been burning 1500 years 130

Austin, St. Lamp mentioned by him that conti-
nued burning 1050 years 133

Addison, Mr. his story of the Rosicrucian Lamp 134
Alice Hackney, her body found perfect after 175

years interment 136

Arthur, King and his wife, their bodies found

after 600 years burial 138

B

Boy, remarkable recovery of after being laid out

for dead 20

Benedictus, Alexander, his story of a Lady buried

alive 31

Baldock, Master, resuscitated, after apparent

death 65

Burying in churches and confined church-yards,

danger of 96

Buchan, Dr. his observations on burying in the

midst of Cities 116

Baptistse Portae, account by, of a burning Lamp,

secreted before the advent of Christ ...... 129

Bray brook, Robert, his body found after 262

years interment...., •••......... 137

INDEX,

Page.
Brydoiie, Mr. his account of a remarkable bury-

ing-place near Palermo 140

Body found in a Vault, curious particulars of ... ib.
Bononiae, Church of, a perfect body found there,

150 years after burial 149

Body buried sixty two Olympiads, described by

Pausanius 150

C.

Cicero, his observations concerning the Dead 1
Coach office Director, restored to life after being

supposed dead 19

Civile, Francis. Remarkable story of.. 25

Cardinal Espinolae, ditto , 23

Cornwall, Lady there, ditto 70

Colchester, a child there, nearly buried alive...... 74

Churches, observations on the pernicious custom

of burying there 96

Ditto, ditto, ditto 98

Ditto, ditto, ditto 104
Contagion from opening new Graves, how to

prevent 107

Cleopatra's Tomb, account of 126

Cedrenus, his description of a wonderful Lamp 128
Constantine Chlorus, burning Lamp found in his

tomb ib.

INDEX.

Page.
Constantino and Irene, remarkable sepulchre

found in their time 147

Coeciliae, church of, body found there, buried

upwards of 300 years ib.

D.

Dead bodies improperly treated 10tol8

Death, difficulty of distinguishing when persons

are really so 78

Dead, various methods of burying by different

Nations 83

Dead bodies, how to preserve safe in their graves 120

Dr. Parsons extraordinary story 121

Dunfermline Church, body of a young Man

found there 144

Dominick, St. Church of, remarkable body found

there 149

E.

Egyptians particularly careful of their dead 2

England, people there keep their dead several

days before burial 9

Espinola, Cardinal, not dead when about to be

dissected , 23

IXDEX.

Page,
Elizabeth a Servant, not dead after long hanging,

and ill treatment 64

Egyptians embalm their dead 87

Eastern Countries, practice of burying their

dead 117

Edessa, remarkable Lamp found there 128

F,

Fever patients ought to be particularly looked

after before laid out as dead 80

France, King of, prohibits burying in churches... 98

Female, extraordinary resolve of 119

G.

Greeks, great veneration of, for their dead ...... 2

Geneva, people appointed theie to inspect the

dead 9

Genoa, dead people there, dressed according to

their rank ib.

Godfrey, the Honourable Mrs. remarkable irance

of 43

Green, Anne, remarkable story of 62

Glover, Mr. story related by, of a person restored

to life after hanging 73

Greeks, old, singular method of burial 85

INPEX.

Page.

Graves, danger of opening too soon 107

Grave, opened too soon in Aberdeen, fatal conse-
quence attending H5

Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, corpse found

after seventy years burial 136

Guavnerius, Alexander, curious account of a sub-
terranean cavern by *46

H.

Hawe's, Dr. extract from his addresses to the

public •••••• • 80

Hale, Sir Matthew, his observations on burying

in churches ^8

Hall, Bishop, extract from his Sermon on church

burials •• ^9

Hackney, Alice, her body found after 175 years

interment ••••• *$®

L

Interment, premature, great danger of 1

Jews, their manner of burying their dead 9

Janin, Monsieur, story of a child apparently

dead, recovered by , 71

Joseph the Second, prohibits burials in churches 118

Interesting account from an Italian paper 145

INDEX.

K.

Page.
Kiovia, City of, subterranean burying places

near , 14^

L.

Lady buried alive in Russia 40

Lamps, ever-burning ones of the Ancients 121 to 135

M.

Merrier, Monsieur, very remarkable story relat-
ed by 31

Mold Church, in Flintshire, singular epitaph

there „ 98

Montpelier, remarkable circumstance that hap-
pened there 104

Maximus, Olybius, curious Lamp made by 131

Mary-at-Hill, St. body found there alter 175

years burial \qq

Magnus, Aibertus, his body found aftei 200 years

interment 139

Methods of embalming , 151

INDEX.

N.

Paue.

Navier, Monsieur, observalions by, on the dan-
ger of burying in churches 107

Nevis, Island of, wonderful burning Lamp found

there 129

o.

Olybius, Maximus, curious Lamp made by 131

P.

Plato, attention by him, recommended to the

dead ,...,. 1

Primitive church, washed and anointed their

dead , 8

Pallas, remarkable burning Lamp of 129

Philosophical transactions,' body found in a

vault, described therein , 142

Pausanius, body mentioned by him, found after

248 years interment „ 160

INDEX

JR.

Page.
Romans, great attention paid by them to their

dead 3 4 and 5

Rouen, siege of, remarkable circumstance hap-
pened there •• • •? • 25

Resuscitation, very extraordinary one, in Sweden 35

Russia, young lady buried alive there 40

Retchmuth Adoleh, buried alive, at Cologne- • • • 51
Reanimation of a female in Paris, supposed to

be dead C8

Romans, method of burying their dead 88

Remarkable fact of Sumovin Feodose • • • 94

Rosicrucian Lamp, story of 134

Rome, remarkable coffin and curiosities found

there 137

S.

Syrians, their method of embalming .•••■• 2

Spain, method of dressing the dead there « 9

Syncope, sometimes mistaken for death 21

Schrnid, Dr. John, story related by ib.

Syncope, remarkable story of a person having

fallen into one 22

Scroop, Sir Gervase, story of, related by Dr.

Faller .•••• 29

INDEX.

Page.

Sweden, remarkable occurrence there .• • • 35

Spain, lady there, returns to life under the hands

of the anatomist 59

Sumoviti Feodose, remarkable story of 94

Scripture, quotations from, against burying in

churches • 99

Story, remarkable, related by Dr. Parsons. • • • • • 121

Solomon, King, his servant's tomb • 126

Sicilian convent, remarkable burial place there 140
Staverton church, curious particulars of a body

found in a vault there 142

Turks, scrupulously particular in examining the

dead 7

Trance, remarkable one, of the Honourable

Mrs. Godfrey • 43

Tatoreidie, after being laid in a coffin for dead,

returns to life 61

Tissot, Dr. story related by him of a girl return-
ing to life, after being long in the water- • 68

Tossach, Mr. case related by, of a Man recover-
ing, after apparent death 69

Tomb of King Edward the First, interesting

particulars of opening 91

Turks, their burying places, rendered handsome

and agreeable 97

INDEX.

Page.
tombs, fatal consequences frequently happen by

opening them too soon 107

Tombs, remarkable ones of the Ancients 121

Temple dedicated to Venus, burning Lamp found

therein • « * 133

Tripe, Mr. story related by, of a body found in a

vault «■•••• *• 142

V.

Vesabe, physician, to Philip II. of Spain, opens

a body before dead 57

Vapour, dreadful effects arising from one at

Montpelier 104

Valentia in Spain, remarkable body found there 126

W.

Walker, Dr. melancholy account of his being

buried alive 45

Wynne, Dr. William, his epitaph, forbidding

church burial • • • • • 9*>

z.

Zacchias, Peter, remarkable story, related by • • 39
Plummer and Brewis, Printers, Love-Lane, Easicueap.

?

■ ;• .y «